THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


T3 


l  i  f  etk  mm  o?  m 

JUL  1  4  i93) 


OF  THE 


U^ERSirY  0F 

.  Ur  IL^i'0i$ 


Rev.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


COMPILED  MOSTLY 


FROM  HIS  OWN  LIPS. 


HiDclftlt  Wtoitsanb. 


GLASGOW:  JOHN  S.  MARK  &  SONS, 

LONDON:  simpkin,  marshall  and  CO. 
Melbourne;  geoiigij  rorertson, 


* 


- 


-B 

G9g<H  | 

PREFACE. 


In  the  following  pages  an  earnest  attempt  has  been  made  to 
give  a  brief,  yet  accurate,  Sketch  of  the  Life,  Labours,  and 
Opinions  of  the  late  Eev.  Dr  Guthrie.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  volume  consists,  in  greater  part,  of  the  Doctor’s  own 
utterances — the  desire  being  to  give  the  facts  and  incidents 
as  described  by  himself;  and  his  sentiments  as  they  were 
uttered  by  his  own  lips,  or  written  by  his  own  pen.  The 
numerous  extracts  given  will  be  welcomed  by  readers  of  the 
volume  as  beautiful,  truthful,  and  useful  in  themselves,  and 
as  the  best  representation  of  the  character,  labours,  and 
achievements  of  one  who  ever  proved  himself  an  ornament 
to  the  Christian  Church,  and  an  honour  to  his  native 
Scotland. 

If  the  volume  lead  any  to  adopt  Dr  Guthrie’s  views, 
imbibe  his  spirit,  and  follow  in  his  footsteps,  it  will  not 
have  been  written  in  vain. 


771914 


CONTENTS 


TAGS 

CHAPTER,  I. 


Birth,  Birthplace,  and  Parentage, 

- 

-  7 

CHAPTER  II. 

Education  and  Choice  of  a  Profession, 

- 

-  17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Probationership,  Medical  Studies,  and  Banking, 

-  21 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Settlement  at  Arbirlot  and  Marriage, 

- 

-  25 

CHAPTER  V. 

Call  to  Edinburgh — Old  Greyfriars — St.  John’s, 

-  30 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Disruption,  - 

-  37 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Manse  Scheme — Refusal  of  Sites — Canobie, 

- 

45 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ragged  Schools, . 

-  51 

CHAPTER  IX. 

National  Education. 


GO 


vi 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

CHAPTEE  X. 

Free  St.  John’s — Moderatorship,  -  67 

CHAPTEE  XL 

Efforts  in  the  Temperance  Cause,  -  -  -  77 

CHAPTEE  XII. 

Miscellaneous  Incidents  and  Movements,  93 

CHAPTEE  XIII. 

The  Pulpit— Platform — Society — Person,  ...  105 

CHAPTEE  XIV. 

Writings  and  Travels, . 110 

CHAPTEE  XY. 

Illness — Death — Funeral — Conclusion,  -  -  -  119 


LIFE 


OF 

REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH,  BIRTHPLACE,  AND  PARENTAGE. 

Thomas  Guthrie,  the  subject  of  the  following  brief  Memoir, 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Brechin,  Forfarshire,  on  the  12th 
day  of  July,  1803.  At  one  time,  Brechin  was  the  site 
of  an  Episcopal  see,  and  the  county  town  of  Forfar.  It 
seems,  however,  to  have  made  comparatively  little  progress 
during  the  first  years  of  the  present  century,  as  the  popula¬ 
tion,  which  was  5466  in  1801,  had  only  increased  to  6508 
in  1831,  and  to  7933  at  the  last  census.  Brechin  is 
beautifully  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Esk,  at  a 
distance  of  eight  miles  from  the  point  where  that  river  joins 
the  sea  at  Montrose.  In  the  Esk  there  is  abundance  of 
fine  trout,  the  existence  and  accessibility  of  which  doubtless 
kindled  and  stimulated  young  Guthrie’s  love  of  piscatorial 
pursuits,  a  love  which  did  not  desert  him  in  his  maturer 
years.  At  one  time  Brechin  was  completely  walled  round; 
and  until  very  recently  some  relics  of  the  gates  were  still  to  bo 
seen.  Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  ancient  edifice  in  the 
town  is  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St  Ninian’s,  supposed  to 


8 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


have  been  founded  by  David  I.,  and  a  portion  of  which 
forms  the  parish  church  where  the  Guthrie  family  usually 
worshipped.  It  is  a  stately  Gothic  fabric,  166  feet  long,  and 
61  broad,  the  roof  being  supported  by  two  rows  of  pillars 
and  arches.  The  eastern  end  was  sadly  devastated  at  the 
Reformation,  but  the  building,  in  fact,  appears  never  to  have 
been  completed.  “  The  present  parish  church  occupies  the 
west  end  of  the  Cathedral.  At  the  north-west  corner  is  a 
square  tower,  with  a  handsome  spire  128  feet  high.  At  the 
south-west  corner  is  one  of  those  round  towers,  probably  of 
Pictish  origin,  of  which  this  and  another  at  Abernethy  are 
all  the  specimens  that  remain  in  Scotland.  The  tower  of 
Brechin  is  a  circular  column  of  great  beauty  and  elegance, 
80  feet  high,  with  a  kind  of  spire  or  roof  rising  23  feet  more, 
making  the  whole  height  103  feet,  while  the  diameter  over  the 
wall  at  the  base  is  only  1 6  feet.;;  The  entrance  to  this  tower  is 
about  6 1  feet  from  the  ground,  and  on  the  stones  forming  it 
are  rudely  carved  several  grim  figures  well  fitted  to  excite 
the  imagination  of  youth  and  the  interest  of  the  antiquary. 
The  tower  itself  seems  to  have  suffered  little  injury  from  the 
lapse  of  years,  but  it  is  off  the  plumb-line,  and  vibrates  in  a 
high  wind.  In  the  immediate  locality  of  Brechin  there  are 
many  places  of  interest,  not  the  least  important  being 
Brechin  Castle,  the  seat  of  Lord  Panmure,  which  is  built  on 
a  perpendicular  rock,  overhanging  the  south  Esk,  half  a 
mile  south  of  the  town.  To  this  noble  edifice  and  its 
grounds  young  Guthrie  had  easy  access,  owing  to  the 
intimacy  existing  between  his  family  and  Lord  Panmure. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Maitland,  author  of  the  Histories 
of  London  and  Edinburgh;  Dr  Gillies,  the  historian  of 
Greece;  Dr  Tytler,  the  translator  of  Callimachus;  and  his 
brother  James  Tytler,  who  had  so  large  a  share  in  compiling 
the  “  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  ”  and  other  standard  works, 


BIRTH,  BIRTHPLACE,  AND  PARENTAGE 


9 


were  all  natives  of  the  parish  of  Brechin.  But  there  are 
others,  bearing  the  name  of  the  subject  of  our  Memoir,  who 
have  shed  upon  the  old  burgh  the  lustre  of  their  varied  achieve¬ 
ments.  There  was  William  Guthrie,  a  political,  historical, 
and  miscellaneous  writer,  who  was  born  in  Brechin,  where 
his  father  was  Episcopal  minister  in  1708.  More  than  a 
century  previous  we  find  mention  of  another  William  Guthrie, 
born  near  Brechin  in  1620.  This  was  the  author  of  the 
“  Christian’s  Great  Interest.”  He  appears  from  “  The  Scots 
Worthies,”  where  he  has  not  unworthily  found  a  place,  to 
have  been  distinguished  for  his  sincere  piety  and  his 
consistent  adherence  to  nonconforming  principles.  And  now 
we  come  to  James  Guthrie,  “the  noblest  Roman  of  them 
all.”  He  was  the  son  of  the  Laird  of  Guthrie,  and  com¬ 
menced  his  ministerial  career  in  Lauder,  from  which  place 
he  was  translated  to  Stirling  in  1649.  It  is  related  of  this 
fearless,  consistent,  and  truly  godly  man,  that  when  he  came 
to  Edinburgh  to  sign  the  “  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,” 
the  first  person  he  met  on  entering  the  West  Bow  was  the 
public  executioner.  This  singular  circumstance  he  could 
not  help  regarding  as  a  premonition  that  he  would  one  day 
suffer  by  the  hands  of  this  functionary,  on  account  of  the 
document  he  had  that  day  come  to  subscribe.  His  fore¬ 
boding  was  realised,  and  none  of  the  Covenanters  met  death 
with  more  firmness,  or  with  greater  serenity  of  mind.  With 
each  and  all  of  these  distinguished  men,  Thomas  Guthrie 
claimed  a  relationship  more  or  less  remote.  They  were 
all  cadets  of  the  Guthries  of  Guthrie,  one  of  the  oldest 
families  in  Forfarshire.  He  was  early  acquainted  with  the 
story  of  their  lives,  and  especially  with  that  of  James 
Guthrie,  the  covenanting  hero,  who  had  “  resisted  unto  blood, 
striving  against  sin.”  Thus  Brechin  and  its  immediate  neigh¬ 
bourhood,  with  its  Pictish  tower  and  curious  sculptures, 

B 


> 


10 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


its  ancient  battlefields  and  Danish  camp,  its  flowing  stream 
and  wooded  heights,  and  its  illustrious  roll  of  men  renowned 
in  literary  and  ecclesiastical  story,  furnished  much  well  fitted 
to  excite  intellectual  activity,  feed  the  youthful  imagination, 
develop  the  latent  love  of  natural  beauty,  fill  the  soul  with 
noble  resolve  for  highest  service  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  God,  and  so  be  the  becoming  birthplace  of  Thomas 
Guthrie. 

The  father  of  Thomas  Guthrie  was  a  banker,  and  one  of 
the  leading  merchants  in  Brechin.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  occupied  the  prominent  position  of  chief  magistrate,  and 
in  that  capacity  acquired  an  amount  of  respect  and  popu¬ 
larity  that  stood  his  family  in  good  stead.  But  in  a  town 
containing  little  more  than  5000  inhabitants  there  was 
not  much  scope  for  mercantile  enterprise,  nor  much  hope  of 
amassing  wealth.  To  maintain  appearances,  and  provide 
for  the  requirements  of  his  numerous  family,  the  elder 
Guthrie,  like  many  others  in  rural  districts,  added  to  the 
other  ramifications  of  his  business  that  of  a  grocer.  Probably 
at  one  period  of  his  career  Thomas  was  twitted  about  this 
fact.  At  all  events,  it  was  a  circumstance  to  which  he  not 
unfrequently  referred,  and  always,  be  it  said,  with  manly 
and  proper  feeling.  Speaking  at  an  early  closing  meeting 
in  Edinburgh,  he  said :  “  Shopkeepers  are  one  of  the  most 
important  classes  of  the  community.  With  few  exceptions, 
the  houses  in  Edinburgh  stand  upon  shops ;  and  if  the 
foundation  go  to  pieces,  where  will  the  superstructures  be  'l 
Did  not  Napoleon  Bonaparte  call  us  a  nation  of  shopkeepers, 
and  did  not  this  nation  of  shopkeepers  lick  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  and  all  Europe  to  boot?  I  say,  then,  up 
with  the  shopkeepers !  Close  your  shops  in  good  time, 
and  let  us  have  a  right  race  of  shopkeepers,  morally,  physi¬ 
cally,  intellectually,  and  religiously.  Although  the  brains 


BIRTH,  BIRTHPLACE,  AND  PARENTAGE. 


11 


of  our  shopkeepers  are  not  yet  what  they  should  be,  and 
what  they  will  be,  I  will  say  for  them  that  they  make  the 
best,  very  best,  the  most  virtuous,  honest,  and  religious  part 
of  the  community.  They  are  not  what  you  may  call  a 
learned  people,  but  they  are  very  clever,  very  sharp;  and  I 
will  say  for  Edinburgh,  that  one  or  two  of  our  most  sagacious 
men  are  shopkeepers,  whose  intelligence  I’ll  stake  any  day 
you  like  against  ‘  the  tottle  of  the  whole  ’  of  the  advocates 
and  all  other  men  in  the  city.  I  say,  let  no  man  despise 
shopkeepers.  They  are  the  backbone  of  our  country,  and 
if  the  backbone  is  not  right,  depend  upon  it,  the  whole 
body  is  wrong.  With  regard  to  the  grocers,  I  have  a  special 
interest  in  them.  My  father  was  a  grocer,  a  merchant 
engaged  in  various  branches  of  business.  He  had  a  shop  all 
his  days ;  and  do  you  think  I  am  ashamed  of  that  ]  I 
thank  God  I  had  such  a  father,  a  man  who  maintained  a 
high  character  in  the  community,  and,  I  repeat,  God  forbid 
that  I  should  be  ashamed  of  such  a  man !  More  than  that, 
I  have  two  sons  in  the  trade.  I  might  have  sent  these  sons 
to  India,  or  used  any  influence  I  had  to  get  them  into 
Government  offices.  Some  of  my  genteel  friends  held  up 
their  hands  in  astonishment  that  I  should  have  made  my 
sons  grocers.  But  I’ll  tell  you  why  I  made  them  grocers, 
and  did  not  send  them  to  India.  I  wanted  my  sons  to 
stand  upon  their  own  feet  independently  of  any  man’s 
patronage ;  and  if  any  man  wants  a  good  advice  from  me  as 
to  how  he  would  dispose  of  his  sons,  I  recommend  him  to 
do  the  same.  I  felt  that  if  I  asked  favours  for  my  own 
family,  I  should  soon  be  required  to  ask  favours  for  other 
people;  and  if  I  once  began,  I  saw  I  would  soon  become  a 
perfect  Solicitor-General.  I  felt  that  by  doing  so  I  wTould 
soon  lose  any  influence  I  possessed  with  great  men,  whose 
acquaintance  I  never  sought,  though  they  sought  mine;  and 


12 


LIFE  OF  REV,  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


that,  in  so  far  as  I  could  make  a  good  use  of  that  influence, 
I  was  bound  to  use  it  for  the  religious,  educational,  and 
benevolent  interests  of  the  people.  I  have  reserved  my 
influence  for  those ;  and  so  far  as  asking  favours  for  myself 
or  others  of  my  family,  these  hands  are  clean.,, 

Thomas  Guthrie’s  mother  was  in  all  respects  a  most 
superior  woman.  Both  by  natural  endowments  and  by 
education,  she  was  far  a-head  of  the  average  lady  of  her 
time.  She  was  a  “  managing  ”  woman,  and  inculcated 
economy;  she  was  a  prudent  woman,  and  kept  her  own 
counsel;  and,  above  all,  she  was  a  good  Christian  and  an 
inflexible  Seceder.  Her  influence  with  her  family  accom¬ 
panied  and  flowed  from  this  one  fact  more  than  any  other. 
Her  strong  love  for  Secession  was  the  result  of  still  stronger 
religious  convictions.  She  was  no  stern  bigot  either ;  but 
practised  and  enforced  toleration  where  it  was  not  incom¬ 
patible  with  orthodoxy  and  religious  freedom.  At  that 
time  of  day  the  Seceders  were  a  comparatively  humble  and 
obscure  body.  The  Church  of  Scotland  was  dominant  and 
all  powerful.  But  the  acorn  planted  by  the  Erskines  was 
slowly  yet  surely  assuming  the  proportions  of  the  deep- 
rooted  and  wide-spreading  oak.  Mrs  Guthrie  was  a  woman 
who  thought  for  herself,  and  taught  her  family  to  do 
likewise.  She  was  a  staunch  and  unflinching  friend  of  non¬ 
intrusion  and  anti-patronage.  She  held  strong  views  as  to 
the  necessity  of  reforming  the  Established  Church,  which 
she  regarded  as  an  Augean  stable  requiring  the  services  of 
some  ecclesiastical  Hercules.  The  example  of  a  strong- 
minded  mother  is  all  potent  in  a  family,  especially  when  that 
sometimes  equivocal  attribute  is  accompanied,  as  it  was  in 
this  case,  with  perfect  Christian  consistency.  Guthrie  was 
early  taught  to  cherish  a  warm  feeling  towards  the  Seceders, 
and  this  continued  to  be  a  distinguishing  trait  of  his 


BIRTH,  BIRTHPLACE,  AND  PARENTAGE. 


13 


character  all  through  life.  Speaking  on  behalf  of  the 
proposed  union  of  the  churches,  he  says: — 

“My  regard  for  the  Seceders,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to 
allude  to  personal  matters,  is  not  a  causeless  prejudice.  It  is 
founded  on  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Seceders  than  perhaps 
many  in  this  house  have.  One  of  my  parents — a  sainted 
mother,  and  how  she  would  have  rejoiced  to  see  this  day!  — 
was  a  Seceder,  and  other  two  members  of  my  family  felt 
themselves  constrained,  by  the  thrusting  in  of  an  unpopular 
minister  into  the  collegiate  charge  of  Brechin,  to  leave  the 
parish  church;  and  in  consequence  of  the  accommodation  in 
the  parish  church  being  deficient  when  we  were  young,  we 
were  all  Seceders.  We  were  sent  to  the  Secession  Church. 
Until  I  came  to  the  college,  I  was  in  the  regular  habit  of 
sitting  in  the  Burgher  Church;  and,  until  I  became  a 
preacher,  I  generally  worshipped,  on  the  Sabbath  evening, 
in  the  Burgher  Church  of  Brechin.  I  do  not  think  I  lost 
anything  by  that.  With  my  mother’s  milk  I  drank  in  an 
abhorrence  of  patronage ;  and  it  was  at  her  knees,  sir,  that  I 
first  learned  to  pray,  that  I  learned  to  form  a  reverence  for 
the  Bible  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  that  I  learned  to 
hold  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  that  I  learned  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Scottish  religion,  that  I  learned  my 
regard  for  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which 
have  made  me  hate  oppression,  and,  whether  it  be  a  pope,  or 
a  prelate,  or  a  patron,  or  an  ecclesiastical  demagogue,  resist 
the  oppressor.  I  have  seen  them  outside  in,  and  inside 
out;  know  more  of  that  body  than  a  very  large  number  of 
those  here,  and  the  sound  of  Seceder,  sir,  sounds  like  music 
in  my  ear,  and  is  dear  to  my  heart.  I  did  not  say  they  were 
perfect.  I  do  not  know  anybody  perfect  except  our  friend, 
indicating  Dr  Gibson,  who  has  to  confess  nothing  at  all. 
With  their  anti-Burghers  and  Burghers  distinction,  their 


14  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

Lifters  and  anti-Lifters,  and  with  their  aversion  in  the  olden 
time — though  they  have  changed  wonderfully  of  late,  and 
let  no  man  ever  say  that  he  will  not  change — with  their 
aversion  to  paraphrases  and  hymns,  to  gowns  and  bands, 
to  crosses  on  the  outside  of  the  church,  or  any  ornament 
whatever  within,  there  is  no  denying  it,  my  friends  were  a 
little  narrow.  There  are  worse  things,  however,  in  the 
world  than  being  narrow.  The  way  of  life  is  narrow. 
It  is  said  that  my  friends,  the  Seceders,  were  narrow¬ 
minded  and  gnarled.  They  were  gnarled.  They  were  a 
gnarled  oak,  sound  to  the  core,  solid  in  the  grain,  and  the 
very  timber,  before  all  others,  out  of  which  men  like  to 
build  ships  in  which  to  fight  battles,  or  ride  out  the  storm. 

“  I  knew  the  old  Seceders  well.  Perhaps  we  may  find 
that  there  is  not  so  much  difference  between  them  and  us  as 
there  used  to  be.  This  may  be,  not  because  the  old  Seceders 
have  come  down  to  us,  but  because  we  have  risen  up  to  them. 
They  have  now  no  exclusive  right  to  the  honour  of  having 
their  name  made  a  reproach  because  of  their  piety.  I  re¬ 
member  the  day  when  it  was  so — the  time  when  the  man 
who  would  not  sware  or  debauch  himself,  who  maintained 
family  worship,  would  talk  to  another  about  his  soul,  and 
rebuke  his  fault,  was  sneered  at  as  a  Seceder.  Dr  Burns  of 
Kilsyth  used  to  tell  how,  when  travelling  in  a  stage  coach 
north  of  Aberdeen,  he  encountered  a  farmer,  who,  it  turned 
out,  was  on  the  way  to  see  his  minister  about  baptism.  Dr 
Burns  seized  the  opportunity  of  putting  a  good  word  into 
the  man’s  ear;  speaking  to  him  about  the  importance  of  the 
ordinance.  Whereupon  the  other  looked  at  him  astonished, 
and  said,  ‘  Ye’ll  be  a  Sinceder  manf  and  when  Dr  Burns 
repudiated  the  connexion,  telling  him  that  he  was  mistaken, 
and  that  so  far  from  being  a  Seceder,  he  was  a  minister  of 
the  Established  Church,  the  man,  more  astonished  still, 


BIRTH,  BIRTHPLACE,  AND  PARENTAGE. 


15 


exclaimed,  ‘If  ye’r  no  a  Seceder,  then  ye'll  be  frae  the  south,’ 
adding,  ‘We  dinna  trouble  oursels  much  about  these  things 
here;  the  fact  is,  if  the  lairds  are  guid  to  us,  we  dinna  fash 
oursels  about  the  ministers.’  I  will  give  an  example  from 
my  own  experience.  I  was  returning  from  the  General 
Assembly  to  my  own  parish  of  Arbirlot,  when,  between  Dun¬ 
dee  and  that  place,  a  man  mounted  the  coach  who  was  pretty 
drunk  He  had  no  sooner  seated  himself  than  he  began 
swearing  at  a  shocking  rate;  and  while  I  was  thinking 
how  I  could  close  the  blasphemer’s  mouth,  and  whether 
such  an  attempt  might  not  be  like  casting  pearls  before 
swine,  his  neighbour  on  the  other  side  turned  round,  and 
solemnly  and  affectionately  rebuked  him ;  whereupon,  with 
eyes  rolling  in  his  head,  and  speech  thick  in  his  mouth,  and 
a  fiendish  sneer  lurking  in  his  cheeks,  he  looked  round,  and 
said,  ‘Ye’ll  doubtless  be  a  Seceder.’  In  this  case  the  drunken 
man  uttered  a  truth — the  gentleman  was  a  Secession  minis¬ 
ter.  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  who  are  sitting  with  us  in  this 
house,  that  the  day  has  gone  by  for  such  remarks,  and 
that  Seceders,  as  I  am  happy  to  think,  have  no  longer  the 
exclusive  right  to  be  reproached  for  godliness.  This  should 
make  a  union  all  the  more  hearty  and  practicable.  The 
Seceders  have  not  sunk,  but  we  have  risen.  The  descendants 
of  those  good  old  Seceders,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  not  for¬ 
feited  their  title  to  be  considered  worthy  of  their  ancestry.” 

But  there  were  other  directions  in  which  the  superior 
mind  and  intelligence  of  Mrs  Guthrie  made  themselves 
manifest.  She  was  an  ardent  politician.  At  the  time  of 
which  we  write,  Brechin  joined  with  Aberdeen,  Arbroath, 
Montrose,  and  Bervie,  in  sending  a  member  to  Parliament, 
and  we  have  heard  from  one  who  knows  the  circumstances 
well,  that  Mrs  Guthrie’s  influence  had  a  great  deal  to 
do  in  controlling  the  election.  Mr  Joseph  Hume  was 


16 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


her  favourite  candidate;  she  approved  and  admired  his 
economics;  she  sounded  his  praises  far  and  wide,  and  at 
the  election,  which  was  marked  by  an  unprecedented 
excitement,  she  fought  his  battle  so  well,  that,  as  far  as 
Brechin  was  concerned,  his  opponent  (a  Mr  Mitchell)  was 
nowhere.  The  mutual  sympathies  of  Lord  Panmure  and 
Mrs  Guthrie  in  favour  of  the  great  political  economist  led 
to  a  somewhat  close  intimacy  between  the  two  families,  and 
this  friendship  was  helpful  in  various  ways  to  the  subject  of 
our  Memoir. 

We  have  given  these  extracts  and  dwelt  thus  long  and 
minutely  upon  the  religious  tendencies  and  political  sympa¬ 
thies  of  Mrs  Guthrie,  because  it  was  doubtless  largely  due 
to  her  teaching  and  example  that  Dr  Guthrie  exhibited  in 
after  life,  as  the  most  distinguishing  feature  of  his  character, 
a  “  charity  as  boundless  as  the  sea,”  and  a  love  for  humanity 
as  deep. 


CHAPTER  II. 


EDUCATION  AND  CHOICE  OF  A  PROFESSION. 

From  wliat  has  been  already  said,  it  will  be  inferred  that 
Mrs  Guthrie  early  took  the  education  of  her  children  in 
hand.  She  did  not,  indeed,  seek  to  teach  them  “little 
Latin  and  less  Greek/'  nor  did  she  attempt  to  assist  them 
over  the  Pons  Asinorum ,  but  she  carefully  laid  the  founda¬ 
tions  for  the  superstructure  that  was  to  follow.  Thomas,  in 
common  with  his  brothers,  was  sent  to  the  local  academy, 
which,  it  is  not  very  complimentary  to  say,  was  the  prin¬ 
cipal  seminary  in  the  town.  The  “local  habitation ”  of 
this  educational  institution  had  long  been 

“  To  hastening  ills  a  prey,” 

and  the  tuition  imparted  was  not  of  the  highest  standard. 
Merit  must  be  paid  for,  and  the  master  of  Brechin  academy 
was  not  well  paid.  Appointed  by  the  magistrates,  he  had 
a  salary  of  £8  17s.  9d.  a  year,  and  a  free  house.  Besides 
this,  however,  he  had  an  allowance  from  Government  in  the 
rents  of  certain  houses  attached  to  the  “Maison  Dieu.” 
Since  Guthrie  was  a  scholar,  the  position  of  the  schoolmaster 
has  been  greatly  changed  for  the  better,  and  Brechin  is  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  School-houses  have  also  been  built 
according  to  a  much  higher  standard  of  taste  and  comfort. 
An  elegant  Gothic  building,  erected  by  Lord  Panmure  in 
1838,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Burgh  schools,  now 
occupies  the  site  of  the  wretched-looking  edifice  in  which 
Guthrie  began  his  acquaintanceship  with  “schools  and 
schoolmasters.” 


18 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


What  progress  the  boy  Guthrie  made  in  his  studies  whilst 
attending  the  Grammar  School  does  not  specially  appear. 
His  great  natural  powers,  and  his  fair  literary  attainments 
in  subsequent  years,  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  his 
position  in  the  class  was  at  least  more  than  respectable. 
His  estimate  of  teachers  in  general,  and  of  one  in  particular, 
will  appear  from  the  following  extracts  : — 

“As  to  the  laudation  about  schoolmasters,  it  is  really 
worth  reading.  Dr  Muir  Hooked  on  these  gentlemen  as 
scholars,  and  as  most  exemplary  individuals,  and  as  ani¬ 
mated  by  the  feelings  of  honourable  men  and  gentlemen/ 
Now,  I  say  that  is  quite  true  of  many  of  them.  I  have  the 
greatest  respect  for  country  schoolmasters  ;  but  it  is  a 
notorious  fact,  that,  in  consequence  of  the  Established 
Church  having  no  power  of  putting  out  unfit  and  inefficient 
schoolmasters,  many  of  them  are  inefficient.  I  have  known 
the  most  daidling  bodies  in  the  world  in  these  schools.  I 
once  knew  a  daft  creature  in  a  parish  school  wearing  a 
beard  as  long  as  that  [measuring  nearly  a  yard],  and  I 
knew  a  case  of  one  who  was  a  parish  schoolmaster  for  thirty 
years,  the  very  greatest  drunkard  in  his  own  parish,  or  in 
half-a-dozen  round  about  him,  and  he  died  a  parish  school¬ 
master. 

“To  show  the  estimate  the  people  had  of  the  school¬ 
masters  of  the  olden  time,  I  will  tell  you  of  a  remarkable 
man  in  my  own  native  parish,  Mr  Linton,  teacher  of  the 
Grammar  School.  An  honest  man  came  to  him  one  day 
with  a  ‘  halfiin,’  a  long  empty  chap,  who  had  taken  it  into 
his  head  that  he  would  have  some  little  learning.  The 
father  said,  ‘Oh,  Mr  Linton,  you  see  my  laddie’s  fond  o’ 
lear.  I’m  thinkin’  o’  making  a  scholar  o’  him/  ‘  Oh/  said 
Mr  Linton,  looking  at  him,  and  not  seeing  any  sign  that 
there  was  much  in  him,  ‘what  are  you  to  make  of  him'?’ 


EDUCATION  AND  CHOICE  OF  A  PROFESSION 


19 


‘You  see,  Mr  Linton/  rejoined  the  father — and  it  showed 
how  sound  the  old  Scotchman  was — ‘if  he  gets  grace,  we’ll 
inak’  a  minister  o’  him.’  ‘Oh,  but/  says  Mr  Linton,  ‘if  he 
does  not  get  grace,  what  will  you  make  of  him  then!’ 
‘Weel,  in  that  case,’  said  the  parent,  ‘if  he  disna  get  grace, 
we’ll  just  mak’  a  dominie  o’  him.’  ” 

When  he  had  reached  his  twelfth  year,  Guthrie  was  sent  to 
study  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  It  was  the  practice 
of  the  time  to  send  boys  at  this  early  age  to  commence  their 
university  education — a  practice  which,  in  after  years,  he 
frequently  characterised  as  extremely  foolish.  At  such  a 
tender  age  it  could  scarcely  be  expected  that  he  would  take 
any  very  high  position  in  the  various  classes,  nor  does  it 
appear  that  he  ever  greatly  distinguished  himself  as  a 
student.  Having  attended  the  required  preparatory  classes, 
he  entered  the  Divinity  Hall,  then  in  a  very  inefficient  state. 
We  are  not  fully  aware  of  the  motives  which  actuated  him 
in  making  choice  of  the  ministry  as  his  profession.  His 
mother’s  influence,  his  early  and  abiding  love  for  evangelical 
doctrine,  and  a  laudable  ambition  to  be  and  do  something 
in  the  world,  may  have  been  the  more  powerful  incentives 
to  the  course  adopted.  His  parents,  too,  might  cherish  the 
hope  that,  through  Lord  Panmure’s  influence,  their  son 
would  rise  to  a  high  place  in  the  church;  and  that  this, 
taken  in  conjunction  with  the  oratorical  tendencies  that  he 
had  early  displayed,  would  secure  for  him  a  high  measure  of 
usefulness  and  popularity.  That  he  chose  the  ministry  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  in  preference  to  that  of  the  Secession 
need  not  be  matter  of  surprise,  even  keeping  in  view  the 
strong  Secession  tendencies  of  his  mother.  His  family  on 
his  father’s  side  had  been  identified  for  generations  with  the 
Established  Church,  and  still  continued  adherence  to  its 
principles.  Its  whole  creed  he  could  readily  and  conscicn- 


20 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


tiously  subscribe,  and  if  there  was  grievous  and  wide-spread 
defection  both  in  doctrine  and  in  practice,  there  was  so  much 
the  more  need  that  faithful  ministers  might  be  raised  up  to 
vindicate  the  power  of  a  holy  life,  and  contend  for  the  “faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints.” 

In  his  university  studies  Guthrie  was  assisted  by  Dr 
Ritchie,  Professor  of  Divinity;  Dr  Brunton,  Professor  of 
Hebrew;  and  Dr  Meiklejohn,  Professor  of  Church  History. 
In  one  of  these  at  least  he  was  privileged  to  see  an  example 
of  kindliness,  toleration,  and  sympathy  with  progress, — for 
Dr  Ritchie,  formerly  minister  of  St  Andrew’s  Church, 
Glasgow,  was  the  first  minister  in  the  Church  of  Scotland 
who  recommended  the  use  of  organs.  Dr  Guthrie  had  for  his 
fellow-students  some  of  the  great  men  with  whom  he  was 
subsequently  associated  in  the  “Ten  Years’  Conflict,”  and  in 
the  formation  and  building  up  of  the  Free  Church;  but  it 
does  not  appear  that  as  a  student  of  divinity  he  gave  much 
indication  of  the  great  powers  afterwards  made  so  manifest 
both  on  the  platform  and  in  the  pulpit.  After  going  through 
the  usual  curriculum,  he  returned  home,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  Brechin. 


CHAPTER  III. 


PROBATIONERSHIP,  MEDICAL  STUDIES,  AND  BANKING. 

Newly  licensed  preachers  do  not  always  find  it  easy  to 
obtain  a  speedy  and  acceptable  settlement.  Some  of  the 
most  distinguished  ministers  in  the  church  have  had  to 
wait  for  years  ere  their  talents  were  recognised  by  patrons 
and  congregations,  and  a  suitable  sphere  of  labour  and 
usefulness  assigned  them.  It  was  so  in  the  case  of  Dr 
Guthrie.  Indeed,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  at  this  period 
of  his  career  he  was  far  from  being  popular  as  a  preacher. 
He  had  not  acquired  the  knack  of  making  friends,  either 
in  or  out  of  the  pulpit.  Some  of  the  local  critics  who 
heard  his  trial  discourses,  gave  judgment  upon  them  in 
terms  far  from  complimentary.  One  kind  friend  called  him 
a  “bullerin  blockhead,”  and  whatever  the  phrase  might 
mean,  neither  the  preacher  nor  his  friends  had  any  difficulty 
in  understanding  that  it  did  not  imply,  on  the  part  of  the 
critic,  an  excess  of  admiration.  From  the  outset  of  his 
pulpit  career  he  gave  full  play  to  his  lungs  and  voice,  and 
his  aim  was  always  directed  to  speaking  the  truth  without 
fear,  favour,  or  affectation.  His  sermons  were  not  really 
dull,  nor  could  they  be  objected  to  on  orthodox  grounds, 
but  still  there  was  something  about  them  which  prevented 
them  from  catching  the  popular  ear. 

Failing  to  procure  an  immediate  settlement,  but  having 
the  not  far  distant  prospect  of  being  presented  to  a  parish 
by  Lord  Panmure,  Guthrie  determined  to  proceed  to  France 
with  the  view  of  increasing  his  knowledge  of  medicine,  in 
the  study  of  which  he  took  a  deep  interest.  Accordingly, 


22 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


he  spent  the  winter  of  1826-7  in  Paris  attending  medical 
classes,  and  getting  such  insight  into  medical  matters  as  the 
hospitals  of  that  city  could  so  well  furnish.  His  medical 
studies  would  seem  to  have  been  of  a  somewhat  desultory 
and  amateur  character,  and  did  not  indicate  any  intention 
of  changing  his  profession,  but  only  of  qualifying  himself 
more  fully  for  the  performance  of  its  duties.  In  this  respect, 
his  attention  to  medicine  was  eminently  useful,  and  subse¬ 
quently  gave  him  great  power  for  good  when  labouring 
among  the  poor  in  the  parish  of  St.  John's,  Edinburgh. 

When  he  went  to  Paris  he  took  with  him  an  introduction 
to  Baron  Guil.  Dupuytren,  then  considered  the  first  surgeon 
in  Europe.  Proving  himself  an  apt  and  enthusiastic  pupil, 
the  Baron  took  a  special  interest  in  his  studies,  and  treated 
him  with  much  friendly  familiarity.  The  Baron  was  of 
short  stature,  and  his  Scottish  student  was  over  six  feet  in 
height.  On  one  occasion,  when  going  his  rounds  in  one  of 
the  hospitals,  the  Baron  stopped  at  the  couch  of  a  patient, 
whose  leg  had  been  recently  amputated,  and  turning  to 
Guthrie,  said,  “Take  care  of  your  legs;  there's  a  man  who 
would  never  have  had  his  limb  amputated  but  for  its 
inordinate  length;  it  was  always  in  his  way."  Both  master 
and  pupil  enjoyed  the  joke;  Guthrie,  probably,  all  the  more 
that  he  was  considered  a  “  strapping "  fellow,  and,  despite 
his  stature,  by  no  means  unhandsome.  Several  countrymen, 
who  afterwards  rose  to  the  highest  distinction  in  the  medical 
profession,  sat  at  this  time,  like  Guthrie,  at  the  feet  of  this 
Gamaliel  in  medicine;  and  with  some  of  these  he  formed 
friendships  that  were  as  permanent  as  they  were  intimate 
and  valuable. 

That  his  medical  studies  should  occasionally  give  a  tinge 
to  his  word  pictures  was  only  to  be  expected;  and  one  or 
two  of  the  exquisite  touches  in  the  following  extract  are 


MEDICAL  STUDIES  AND  BANKING. 


23 


probably  due  to  this  source.  Speaking  of  the  street  Arabs, 
he  says  : — “  And  they  are  clever  fellows,  some  of  these  boys. 
They  are,  as  we  say,  real  clever.  There  are  some  excellent 
specimens  among  them.  For  example,  I  remember  walking 
along  the  street  we  call  Hanover  Street,  when  an  old  lady 
was  going  toddling  along  on  her  old  limbs,  with  a  huge 
umbrella  in  her  hand.  A  little  urchin  came  up  who  had 
no  cap  on  his  head,  but  plenty  of  brains  within ;  no  shoes 
on  his  feet,  but  a  great  deal  of  understanding  for  all  that. 
Very  well,  I  saw  him  fix  upon  that  venerable  old  lady  to  be 
operated  upon,  and  my  friend  beside  me,  Dr  Bell,  never,  I 
will  venture  to  say,  performed  an  operation  with  half  the 
dexterity  with  which  that  boy  skinned  that  old  lady.  He 
went  up  and  appealed  to  her  for  charity.  She  gave  him  a 
grunt.  He  went  up  again.  She  gave  him  a  poke.  He  saw 
there  was  no  chance  of  getting  at  her  through  her  philan¬ 
thropy,  and  he  thought  to  get  at  her  purse  through  her 
selfishness,  so  he  pulled  up  his  sleeve  to  his  elbow — his 
yellow,  skinny  elbow — and  running  up,  he  cried  out  to  her, 
displaying  the  limb,  and  exhibiting  his  rags  and  woeful  face, 
“  Jist  oot  o’  the  Infirmary  wi’  the  typhus  fever,  mam.'  I 
never  saw  such  an  electrical  effect.  The  old  lady  put  her 
hand  to  the  very  bottom  of  her  pocket,  and  taking  out  a 
shilling,  thrust  it  into  his  hand  and  ran  away.” 

In  1828  Dr  Guthrie  returned  to  Brechin.  Not  obtaining 
a  settled  charge,  he  entered  the  bank  of  which  his  father  was 
a  manager,  and  whilst  on  the  Sabbath  he  occasionally 
exercised  his  gifts  as  a  probationer,  during  the  week  he 
applied  himself  with  great  assiduity  to  the  business  of 
banking.  In  this  way  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  of  monetary  transactions,  to  which  he  owed  much 
of  that  practical  sagacity  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  by 
which  he  was  afterwards  eminently  characterised.  Address- 


24  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

ing  a  meeting  in  Dundee,  lie  alludes,  in  his  own  way,  to 
this  period  of  his  history  : — 

“I  do  not  intend  to  give  you  any  learned  disquisition  on 
commerce.  The  truth  is,  that  is  rather  out  of  my  line,  and 
I  wont  meddle  with  it  in  that  way ;  not  that  I  am  altogether 
ignorant  of  commerce  either.  I  don’t  want  any  of  you  to 
understand  that.  I  was  a  banker  for  two  years  ;  and  Mr 
David  Milne,  formerly  of  the  Union  Bank,  said  when  I  left 
that  profession  (for  if  nobody  will  praise  me,  I  must  praise 
myself),  that  if  I  preached  as  well  as  I  banked,  I  would  get 
on  remarkably  well ;  so  you  see  I  am  not  so  ignorant  of 
these  things  as  one  of  my  brethren  with  whom  I  was  sitting 
one  day.  He  took  up  a  newspaper  and  began  reading,  when 
he  came  upon  ‘Sound’  intelligence,  which  you  Dundee 
people  all  know  means  the  ships  that  pass  through  the 
‘  Sound.’  ‘  Why,’  says  he,  ‘  what  do  they  mean  by  “  Sound  Y9 
Is  it  intelligence  that  may  be  relied  on  V 

“Neither  am  I  so  ignorant  of  agricultural  affairs.  At' 
least  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  testing  the  agricultural 
knowledge  of  my  brethren  in  the  church  by  asking  them 
how  many  teeth  a  cow  has  in  her  front  upper  jaw ;  and  they 
don’t  know  a  bit  about  it ;  they  don’t  know  that  a  cow  has 
no  teeth  in  her  front  upper  jaw  at  all.  Some  of  them 
guessed  half-a-dozen,  and  some  of  them  a  whole  dozen. 
They  were  all  as  ignorant  as  an  old  friend  of  mine  in  the 
city  of  Brechin,  who  wished  to  have  a  first-rate  cow.  He 
accordingly  gave  .£12  or  £15  for  a  handsome  one,  thinking 
that  she  was  in  the  flush  of  her  milk  and  the  beauty  of  her 
youth.  But  a  wag  went  up  to  him  afterwards,  and  said  to 
him,  ‘Dear  me,  look,  Mr  Smith,  she  hasna  a  tooth  in  her 
upper  jaw.  You  have  been  fairly  taken  in.  Instead  of 
buying  a  young  milk  cow?  she  is  a  venerable  grandmother  !  ’  ” 


CHAPTER  IV. 


SETTLEMENT  AT  ARBIRLOT  AND  MARRIAGE. 

The  ministerial  charge  of  Arbirlot  becoming  vacant  by  the 
sudden  death  of  the  incumbent,  Mr  Watson,  the  presentation 
was  given  to  Mr  Guthrie  by  the  Crown,  through  the  influence 
of  Lord  Panmure,  the  only  heritor  in  the  parish.  The 
settlement  took  place  in  1830,  and,  on  the  whole,  was  as 
agreeable  to  the  Congregation  as  to  the  presentee  himself. 
Once  in  harness,  the  Dr  did  not  allow  the  grass  to  grow 
beneath  his  feet,  but  began  his  life’s  work  in  good  earnest. 

Arbirlot  is  a  small  parish  in  the  county  and  on  the  sea 
coast  of  Forfarshire.  It  was  a  purely  rural  parish,  and 
during  his  ministry  had  this  remarkable  peculiarity,  that 
there  was  only  one  person,  a  kind  of  freethinker,  who 
did  not  attend  the  parish  church.  The  population  at  the 
time  of  Dr  Guthrie’s  settlement  was  exactly  1000,  and 
altogether  agricultural.  The  whole  parish  is  the  property  of 
Lord  Panmure.  The  stipend  paid  to  the  parish  minister  in 
Dr  Guthrie’s  time  was  £184  4s.  5d.,  with  the  addition  of  a 
manse,  a  garden,  and  a  glebe  of  four  acres.  Some  years  after 
his  settlement  a  new  parish  church  was  built,  having  accom¬ 
modation  for  639  worshippers.  There  was  no  dissent  in  the 
parish,  no  opposition,  no  controversy;  and  with  no  special 
requirements  of  any  kind  to  stimulate  the  young  minister’s 
efforts,  he  might  have  settled  down  into  a  quiet,  easy¬ 
going  country  parson,  whose  memory  would  have  perished 
with  himself,  but  for  the  exciting  and  eventful  times  upon 
which  he  fell,  and  his  noble  determination  to  consecrate  his 
whole  powers  to  the  service  of  God  and  humanity. 

0 


26 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


The  turning  point  of  Dr  Guthrie's  career  as  a  preacher 
was  reached  during  his  ministry  at  Arbirlot.  It  happened 
in  this  wise.  He  found  that  the  agricultural  class  (of 
which  his  congregation  was  almost  entirely  made  up)  was 
not  easily  awakened  or  impressed  by  the  ordinary  pulpit 
ministrations.  He  had  thundered  in  their  ears  the  terrors 
of  Mount  Sinai;  he  had  sounded  the  Gospel  trumpet  with 
a  blast  loud  enough  to  rouse  the  dead;  he  had  implored, 
threatened,  and  almost  scolded  them :  but  nothing  seemed 
permanently  to  arrest  their  attention — they  went  to  sleep 
under  his  most  fervent  and  heart-stirring  appeals.  One 
Sabbath,  however,  he  happened  to  introduce  an  interesting 
anecdote;  and  he  observed  that  its  effect  was  electric — ■ 
even  the  most  somnolent  of  his  congregation  woke  up  and 
listened  with  attention  while  he  proceeded  to  “  point  the 
moral."  The  service  over,  he  informed  his  wife  that  he 
had  discovered  the  way  to  keep  his  congregation  awake; 
and  from  that  time  forward  he  missed  no  opportunity  of 
illustrating  his  discourse  either  with  an  appropriate  story, 
or  an  equally  effective  and  apropos  effort  of  the  imagination. 
He  had  another  way  of  finding  out  what  was  most  adapted 
to  his  audience.  It  was  his  habit  to  go  over  his  sermons 
with  a  class  of  young  people;  and  from  their  answers  he 
easily  gathered  what  parts  of  his  sermons  they  understood 
and  felt,  and  what  parts,  on  the  other  hand,  they  had  little 
interest  in.  By  all  these  lessons  he  sagaciously  profited  in 
his  after  preparations. 

His  ministry  roused  the  people  of  Arbirlot  out  of  the 
profound  sleep  in  which  they  had  been  permitted  to  indulge, 
and  was  accompanied  by  a  measure  of  spiritual  blessing. 
His  fame  began  to  spread,  and  was  considerably  increased 
by  a  public  lecture  which  he  delivered  at  Arbroath  in 
opposition  to  Voluntaryism.  The  attention  of  the  metro- 


SETTLEMENT  AT  ARBIRLOT  AND  MARRIAGE. 


27 


polis  was  turned  upon  him ;  and  the  late  Alexander  M. 
Dunlop  went  to  Arbirlot  to  hear  him  preach,  and  carried 
back  to  Edinburgh  the  report  of  his  great  powers  in  the 
pulpit. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  during  his  ministry  at 
Arbirlot,  Dr  Guthrie  was  prostrated  by  a  very  serious 
attack  of  fever.  For  many  days  his  life  hung  in  the 
balance;  and  night  after  night  his  friends  watched  him 
with  hardly  a  shadow  of  hope  that  he  would  see  the 
morning.  Had  he  not  had  a  frame  of  great  vigour  he 
could  not  have  survived  the  attack;  but  through  God’s 
mercy  his  life  was  preserved  for  the  valuable  and  important 
services  which  it  was  his  great  privilege  to  render  both  to 
the  church  and  to  the  world. 

Besides  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  ordinary  parochial 
duties,  Dr  Guthrie,  while  at  Arbirlot,  gave  himself,  as 
occasion  offered,  to  the  general  work  of  the  church.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Dr  Chalmers  set  on  foot  his  great  scheme 
of  Church  Extension.  In  that,  enterprise  Dr  Guthrie  took  a 
warm  interest,  and  both  by  sympathy  and  personal  effort 
did  much  to  promote  its  success.  He  looked  upon  Dr 
Chalmers’  idea  of  planting  200  new  churches  in  the  most 
destitute  localities  of  the  land  as  a  grand  conception,  and 
this,  in  all  probability,  was  the  first  application  of  that 
powerful  magnetism  which  afterwards  drew  him  so  closely 
to  the  first  moderator  of  the  Free  Church. 

While  at  Arbirlot,  Dr  Guthrie  had  scope  and  verge  enough 
for  cultivating  his  love  of  angling,  and  from  the  waters  of 
the  Elliott,  which  runs  through  the  parish,  and  which  had 
long  been  noted  for  trouts  of  a  peculiar  relish,  he  landed 
many  a  fine  basketful.  Fault-finders  are  a  numerous  class, 
and  Dr  Guthrie  was  not  without  his  detractors.  He  was 
charged  with  cruelty  to  animals,  and  the  malignant  accusation 


28 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


was  founded  on  his  predilection  for  the  sport  which  Isaac 
Walton  has  made  classic.  The  accusation  was  scarcely  worth 
heeding,  but  after  a  lecture  by  Mr  Gamgee  on  cruelty  to 
animals,  the  Dr  referred  to  it  in  the  following  terms  : — 

“  In  my  view,  the  man  or  the  woman  who  inflicts  cruelty 
either  upon  their  children,  or  the  brute  creatures,  sins 
against  the  light  of  reason  as  well  as  against  the  law  of  God. 
Hogarth,  the  great  portrait  painter,  painted  some  pictures 
representing  the  progress  of  cruelty.  He  began  with  a  boy 
torturing  cats,  and  ended  by  showing  him  at  the  gallows  for 
murder.  I  warn  parents  against  allowing  their  children  to 
kill  flies,  or  to  inflict  needless  pain  on  any  creature.  It  is 
quite  consistent  with  my  profession  that  I  should  come 
forward  to  take  a  part  in  such  a  meeting  as  this,  but  some 
of  my  friends,  who  remember  a  picture  in  the  Exhibition,  in 
which  I  am  represented  as  fishing  in  a  boat,  may  be  inclined 
to  ask  whether  I  practise  what  I  preach.  Now,  I  believe  I 
have  derived  health  both  in  body  and  mind  from  angling ; 
but  if  I  really  thought  I  was  inflicting  cruelty  on  fishes  by 
so  doing,  I  would  not  have  engaged  in  that  amusement. 
But  one  day,  when  I  was  fishing  along  with  my  son,  I 
caught  a  trout  of  which  I  happened  to  make  a  post-mortem 
examination,  and  in  its  belly  I  found  a  rusty  hook  and  a 
piece  of  gut,  which  must  have  remained  there  for  weeks  or 
months.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  fish  could  not  have  felt 
any  pain  from  that  hook,  otherwise  it  would  not  have  seized 
so  readily  on  mine.  In  fact,  the  trout  was  evidently  in  the 
most  comfortable  circumstances  in  the  world.  People  think 
that  when  a  fish  is  taken  out  of  the  water,  and  when  they 
see  it  walloping  its  tail  about,  that  it  is  suffering  great  pain  : 
but  the  fact  is,  that  after  the  fish  is  dead,  the  tail  wallops  for 
a  good  while.” 

Very  shortly  after  his  settlement  at  Arbirlot,  Dr  Guthrie 


SETTLEMENT  AT  ARBIRLOT  AND  MARRIAGE. 


29 


married  Ann  Burns,  daughter  of  the  Key.  James  Burns, 
minister  of  Brechin  For  this  young  lady  he  had  long 
cherished  a  sincere,  attachment,  and  only  delayed  the 
consummation  of  their  union  until  he  was  settled  in  a 
regular  ministerial  charge.  Mrs  Guthrie  belongs  to  a  family 
that  has  supplied  both  the  Established  and  the  Free  Churches 
with  some  of  their  most  eminent  ministers.  She  was  a  niece 
of  Dr  Burns  of  Corstorphine,  who  had  several  brothers  no 
less  popular  ministers  than  himself ;  and  she  was  also  related 
to  the  late  Professor  Islay  Burns,  of  the  Glasgow  Free  Church 
College.  This  may  perhaps  be  the  most  fitting  opportunity 
to  put  on  record  the  fact  that,  throughout  his  whole  married 
life,  Dr  Guthrie  enjoyed  an  exceptional  degree  of  conjugal 
felicity.  All  his  plans  and  efforts  were  heartily  supported 
by  his  amiable  wife,  from  whom  also  he  received  needed 
encouragement  in  times  of  doubt,  difficulty,  and  danger. 


“She  was — but  words  are  wanting  to  say  what ; 
Say  what  a  Christian  should  be— she  was  that.’ 


CHAPTER  V. 

CALL  TO  EDINBURGH— OLD  GREYFRIARS— ST  JOHN’S. 

After  a  residence  of  seven  years  in  Arbirlot,  Dr  Gutlirie 
was,  in  1837,  called  to  the  metropolis.  By  this  time  “his 
fame  was  in  all  the  churches.”  He  had  established  for 
himself  a  reputation  as  an  orator  second  to  none  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  Dr  Chalmers  alone  excepted.  He  had 
also  been  enabled  to  do  the  church  some  service.  We  have 
already  referred  to  his  co-operation  with  Dr  Chalmers  in 
his  Church  Extension  Scheme.  But  he  came  still  more 
prominently  before  the  world  in  connection  with  the  Non¬ 
intrusion  controversy.  Whatever  he  undertook  to  do  he 
did  with  all  his  might,  and  this,  added  to  his  fervid  burning 
eloquence,  made  him  the  cynosure  of  the  church.  It  was 
not  difficult  to  foresee  that  he  was  destined  to  become  “a 
pillar  in  Israel;”  and  hence  he  was  placed  in  a  sphere  where 
his  genius  and  energy  could  find  the  most  ample  scope. 
Old  Greyfriars  was  selected  as  the  field  of  his  future  opera¬ 
tions.  A  vacancy  had  occurred  in  this  collegiate  charge  by 
the  death  of  Dr  Anderson,  and  the  Town  Council  conferred 
on  him  the  great  honour  and  responsibility  of  giving  him 
the  presentation.  Arbirlot  and  its  people  had  taken  a  great 
hold  on  his  heart,  and  to  leave  its  fresh  rural  fields  to  work 
in  the  dingy  closes  and  “lands”  of  the  Cowgate,  was  no 
easy  trial.  Impelled,  however,  by  that  overruling  Providence 
which  so  often  urges  men  of  power  to  leave  an  easy  for  a 
more  difficult  spot,  Dr  Guthrie  accepted  the  call  to  the 
collegiate  charge  of  Old  Greyfriars. 

It  was  no  easy  ordeal  that  he  had  to  undergo  in  being 


CALL  TO  EDINBURGH. 


31 


thus  transferred  from  a  small  and  isolated  country  parish, 
with  little  more  than  a  thousand  souls,  to  a  populous  and 
stirring  metropolitan  charge.  Here,  too,  he  had  to  fill  the 
place  and  maintain  the  unrivalled  prestige  and  reputation 
left  behind  them  by  such  men  as  Eobertson  the  historian 
and  Dr  Erskine — the  one  the  great  leader  of  the  moderate, 
and  the  other  of  the  evangelical  party  in  their  day  and 
generation.  Then,  what  soul-stirring  reminiscences  belonged 
to  that  same  old  church  !  It  had  been  associated  with  many 
a  manly  struggle  for  spiritual  independence.  Within  its 
walls,  in  1638,  the  national  covenant  was  partly  subscribed, 
and  in  the  churchyard  surrounding  it  reposed  the  ashes  of 
many  of  Scotland’s  most  illustrious  sons.  The  population 
of  the  parish  were,  on  the  whole,  illiterate  and  wicked,  and 
neglected  the  ordinances  of  God.  Little  wonder,  then,  that 
the  change  produced  a  profound  and  lasting  impression  on 
Dr  Guthrie’s  mind.  “  The  contrast,”  he  has  declared,  “  both 
morally  and  physically,  between  my  present  and  my  former 
sphere,  was  such  as,  without  God’s  help,  to  appal  the  stoutest 
heart.  My  country  parish  had  no  papists;  I  had  come  to 
one  that  swarmed  with  them.  My  country  parish  had  only 
one  public-house :  and  I  had  come  to  one  where  tippling 
abounded,  and  the  owners  of  dramshops  grew  like  toadstools 
on  a  public  ruin.  With  one  thousand  inhabitants,  my 
country  parish  had  but  one  man  who  could  not  read ;  and  I 
had  come  to  one  with  hundreds  who  did  not  know  a  letter. 
My  country  parish  was  not  disgraced  by  one  drunken  woman ; 
and  I  had  come  to  one  where  women  drank,  and  scores  of 
mothers  starved  their  infants  to  feed  their  vices.  My 
country  parish  might  show  a  darned,  but  had  not  a  ragged 
coat ;  and  I  had  come  to  one  of  loopholed  poverty,  where  men 
and  women  were  hung  with  rags,  and  the  naked,  cracked, 
red,  ulcered  feet  of  little  shivering  creatures  trod  the  iron 


32 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


streets.  In  my  country  parish  there  was  but  one  person 
who  did  not  attend  the  house  of  God ;  and  I  had  come  to 
one  where  only  five  of  the  first  one  hundred  and  fifty  I  visited 
ever  entered  either  church  or  chapel.  My  old  country 
parish  had  not  a  house  at  least  without  a  Bible ;  and  I  had 
come  to  one  where  many  families  had  no  Bible  on  the  shelf 
nor  a  bedstead  on  the  floor.  Inside  and  outside,  the  roll 
might  be  written  with  lamentation,  mourning,  and  woe.” 
The  great  heart  of  Guthrie  was  stirred  to  its  inmost  depths 
by  the  crime,  wretchedness,  and  poverty  he  saw  around  him. 
He  was  musing  on  the  subject  one  day  while  overlooking 
the  Cowgate,  and  thinking  how  he  could  best  deal  with  the 
discordant  and  seemingly  irreclaimable  material  around  him, 
when  some  one  gently  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder.  On 
looking  round  he  saw  Dr  Chalmers  standing  before  him. 
The  latter  evidently  guessed  what  was  passing  in  the  mind 
of  his  friend.  Neither  of  them  spoke  for  a  few  moments, 
but  stood  in  silence  contemplating  the  scene.  “  All  at  once,” 
to  quote  the  words  in  which  Dr  Guthrie  himself  tells  the 
story,  “  Chalmers,  with  his  broad  Luther-like  face  glowing 
with  enthusiasm,  waved  his  arm,  and  exclaimed,  4  A  beauti¬ 
ful  field,  Sir ;  a  very  fine  field  of  operation  !’  ” 

There  was  much  in  common  between  these  two  men. 
Both  were  the  sons  of  country  merchants ;  commenced  their 
ministerial  labours  in  country  parishes ;  and  were  thence 
translated  to  city  churches.  Chalmers  made  it  the  great 
aim  of  his  life  to  re-organise  the  parochial  system  of  Scot¬ 
land,  so  that  the  destitute  and  outcast  might  be  visited  and 
reclaimed,  and  the  young  instructed  in  the  lessons  and 
duties  of  religion;  Guthrie  took  a  different  road  to  reach 
the  same  goal.  Chalmers,  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  set 
on  foot  a  scheme  for  reclaiming  the  inhabitants  of  the  West 
Port  district  in  Edinburgh — a  locality  notorious  alike  for 


CALL  TO  EDINBURGH. 


33 


physical  squalor  and  moral  degradation;  Guthrie  laboured 
assiduously  in  the  same  field.  Both  were  mixed  up  with 
almost  every  phase  of  the  memorable  Non-intrusion  contest, 
both  before  and  after  the  passing  of  the  veto  law  by  the 
General  Assembly,  to  the  Disruption  in  1843;  and  they 
generally  thought,  spoke,  and  voted  in  the  same  way.  Both 
were  expert  financiers;  and  Guthrie  did  as  much  for  the 
Manse  Fund  as  Chalmers  achieved  on  behalf  of  the  Sustenta- 
tion  Scheme  of  the  Free  Church.  In  other  respects  the  two 
men  were  “  similar,  though  not  the  same.”  Both  possessed 
not  only  the  tricks  but  also  the  genius  of  oratorical  power, 
although  the  perfervid,  burning  eloquence  of  the  one  pre¬ 
sented  a  marked  contrast  to  the  more  stately  periods  and 
finished  rhetorical  embellishments  of  the  other.  They  were 
much  together;  and  it  will  be  readily  understood  that 
Chalmers  exercised,  both  by  precept  and  example,  a  power¬ 
ful  influence  over  his  younger  colleague ;  so  that  to  Chalmers’ 
zeal  and  sympathy  it  is  no  doubt,  in  great  part,  due  that 
Guthrie  undertook  and  carried  through  his  manifold  and 
useful  labours  among  the  destitute  and  degraded  in  Old 
Greyfriars’  parish. 

It  requires  a  high  motive,  and  the  exercise  of  no  ordinary 
self-denial,  to  induce  a  man  to  labour  as  Dr  Guthrie  did 
among  the  wynds  and  closes  in  the  parish  of  Old  Greyfriars. 
It  is  not  merely  that  he  remembered  the  case  of  the  poor : 
that  is  saying  little.  He  consecrated  his  whole  energies  to 
the  moral,  social,  and  educational  amelioration  of  his 
parishioners.  He  spent  the  silent  watches  of  the  night,  as 
well  as  the  broad  noon-day,  among  his  flock.  And  such  a 
flock !  Neither  Shoreditch  nor  St  George’s-in-the-East 
could  produce  more  loathsome  and  degraded  specimens  of 
humanity.  It  was  not  their  poverty  alone;  although  they 
could  have  rivalled  Falstalfs  ragged  regiment  in  that:  but 


34 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


the  coarse  brutality,  the  worse  than  heathen  ignorance,  the 
demoniac  instincts  of  the  men  and  women  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact,  would  have  made  any  one  inspired  with  a 
less  lofty  and  resolute  purpose  shrink  from  the  work  which 
he  undertook.  He  exposed  himself  to  perils  from  violence, 
from  disease,  and  from  foul  contagion  in  his  holy  mission. 
But  he  never  forgot  that,  although 

“The  trail  of  the  serpent  was  over  them  all,” 


these  wretched  people  had  claims  upon  him  as  a  minister, 
as  a  Christian,  and  as  a  man.  To  effect  the  reclamation  of 
the  rising  generation  was  his  great  aim;  he  could  make 
little  of  the  hoary-headed  sinners.  His  face  was  as  familiar 
in  the  dens  of  iniquity  that  abounded  in  and  around  the 
Cowgate,  as  those  of  the  broker’s  man  and  the  constable. 
But  while  he  was  often  compelled  to  hear  blasphemy,  he 
seldom  was  the  victim  of  personal  abuse.  The  young, 
especially,  “  found  their  comfort  in  his  face.”  He  had  always 
a  word  of  sympathy  or  encouragement  for  them.  He  regu¬ 
lated  his  conduct  by  the  sentiment  which  he  has  himself 
expressed  in  the  following  striking  words : — “  Keeping 
out  of  view  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  which  is  com¬ 
mon  to  all,  these  children  are  very  much  what  you  choose 
to  make  them.  The  soul  of  the  ragged  boy  or  girl  is  like  a 
mirror.  Frown  upon  it,  and  it  frowns  on  you;  look  at  it 
with  suspicion,  and  it  eyes  you  in  the  same  manner.  Lift 
your  arm  to  strike,  and  there  is  an  arm  lifted  against  you. 
Turn  your  back,  and  it  turns  its  back  on  you.  Turn  round 
and  give  it  a  smile,  and  it  smiles  again  in  return.  It  will 
give  smile  for  smile,  kindness  for  kindness.” 

From  the  first,  Dr  Guthrie  took  rank  as  a  preacher  of 
singular  vigour  and  vivacity.  In  Edinburgh*  no  less  than 


CALL  TO  EDINBURGH. 


35 


in  Arbirlot,  he  was  resolved  not  to  let  his  people  sleep.  If 
at  first  his  manner  and  illustrations  had  a  certain  homespun 
character,  he  came  by-and-bye  to  see  the  advantages  of 
adapting  himself  even  to  the  most  cultivated  taste,  and  took 
much  more  pains  with  his  style.  His  labours  in  the  Grey- 
friars  were  divided  between  preaching  on  Sundays  in  the 
parish  church  and  “excavating”  on  week-days  in  the  parish 
purlieus.  It  was  not  long  before  the  parish  church  became 
crowded  with  hearers,  many  of  them  persons  of  the  first 
position  and  influence  in  Edinburgh.  Among  his  regular 
hearers  were  Lords  J effrey  and  Cockburn.  The  story  is  told 
of  Cockburn  that,  being  asked  by  a  friend  who  met  him  one 
Sunday  where  he  was  going  to  church,  he  answered,  “Going 
to  have  a  greet  wi’  Guthrie.”  Lord  Eutherford  was  also 
among  his  regular  hearers,  and  so  was  Lord  Cunningham, 
whose  views  on  church  controversies  were  diametrically 
opposite.  Hugh  Miller  joined  his  congregation  when  he 
came  to  Edinburgh,  and  continued  through  life  his  warm 
and  admiring  friend.  At  first,  however,  this  influx  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  from  the  New  Town  was  rather  embarrassing. 
When  he  came  to  Edinburgh  the  Voluntary  controversy  was 
raging,  and  the  reproach  was  flung  out  on  the  one  side,  and 
repudiated  on  the  other,  that  the  Established  Church  was 
the  Church  only  of  the  gentry,  and  that  the  odious  annuity- 
tax  was  levied  on  the  poor  to  support  the  ministers  of  the 
rich.  Mr  Guthrie  at  that  time  believed  in  the  Established 
Church  as  the  church  of  all  classes,  and  besides  he  was 
diligently  working  in  his  parish,  and  was  annoyed  at  the  Town 
Council  laying  on  seat  rents,  which  really  went  to  exclude 
the  poor,  and  furnished  some  reason  for  the  reproach  of  the 
dissenters.  Under  the  influence  of  these  views  he  promoted 
the  uncollegiating  of  Old  Greyfriars'  Church,  and  in  1840 
got  a  new  church  and  parish  erected  close  to  the  Cowgate, 


36 


LIFE  OF  REV,  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


called  St  John's,  in  which  it  was  intended  to  try  the  experi¬ 
ment  of  allocating  one  portion  of  the  sittings  to  the  people 
of  the  parish,  and  allowing  the  rest  to  be  let  to  the  public  at 
comparatively  high  rates.  The  experiment  proved  highly 
successful,  but  he  had  not  occupied  his  church  long  before 
events  occurred  that  led  to  a  revolution  in  the  ecclesiastical 
arrangements  of  St  John’s  and  of  the  whole  of  Scotland. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  DISRUPTION. 

We  need  not  re-write  the  story  of  “The  Ten  Years'  Confliot,” 
nor  recount  all  that  Dr  Guthrie  did  during  that  great  crisis 
in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Scotland.  It  is  a  somewhat 
singular,  and,  as  some  may  think,  an  inconsistent  thing, 
that  although  his  first  settlement  in  the  Church  was  made 
under  the  law  of  patronage,  he  had  always  been  a  strong 
and  uncompromising  opponent  of  that  vicious  system.  But 
it  did  not  follow  that,  because  he  was  subject  to  the  law,  he 
approved  of  it.  From  the  first  he  took  his  place  among  the 
leaders  of  the  Non-Intrusion  party  in  the  church.  He  had 
great  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  Christian  people,  and  stood 
boldly  forward  in  their  defence.  He  had  confidence,  too,  in 
the  ability  of  a  Christian  congregation  to  judge  as  to  the 
qualities  which  should  be  possessed  by  a  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  Hence  he  pleaded  for  the  “Veto,”  and  without 
reasons.  Referring  retrospectively  to  this  subject  in  the 
Assembly  of  1862,  he  said  : — 

“  Fathers  and  Brethren, — Whether  it  was  right  in  us  to  do 
as  we  did,  to  claim,  as  the  slightest  relaxation  from  that  yoke 
of  patronage  which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able  to 
bear,  that  our  people  should  have  a  veto  without  reasons, — 
I  speak  for  a  moment  as  to  the  rights  of  the  people, — I  think 
may  be  now  left  to  the  judgment  of  those  who  have  been 
trying  the  veto  with  them.  If  the  people  are  dissatisfied, 
and  if  they  have  the  pluck  to  fight  their  own  battle,  through 
what  a  frightful  ordeal  has  the  poor  presentee  to  go !  And 
then,  how  are  people  tempted  to  manufacture  reasons  which 


38 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


the  church  courts  must  allow,  and  holster  up  a  good  cause 
with  had  arguments.  We  thought,  and  the  longer  we 
tried  our  way,  and  saw  the  other,  we  had  the  more  confi¬ 
dence  we  were  right,  that  a  man,  a  free  agent,  is  not  hound 
to  give  his  reasons,  nor  a  woman  either,  why  he  does 
not  like  a  minister.  A  man  is  not  bound  to  give  reasons 
why  he  refuses  a  servant.  A  constituency  is  not  bound 
to  give  reasons  why  it  refuses  a  candidate  for  a  membership 
of  parliament.  I  am  not  hound,  as  a  patient,  to  give 
reasons  why  I  decline  such  and  such  a  physician.  A  client, 
and  even  a  criminal,  is  not  bound  to  give  his  reasons  why 
he  declines  the  services  of  a  particular  lawyer;  and  everybody 
knows  that  a  lady  is  not  bound  to  give  her  reasons  why  she 
declines  a  particular  suitor,  even  though  she  might  have  no 
better  reason  than  that  when  the  gentleman  came  to  pay 
his  addresses,  he  took  out  his  spectacles,  placed  them  upon 
his  nose,  and  read  a  long  lumbering  speech.  That  may  be 
a  very  bad  reason;  but  all  the  world  knows  that  the  liberty 
which  we  claimed  in  the  church  is  claimed  by  every  other 
person,  in  every  other  way  in  the  community;  and  if  people 
should  be  left  to  the  freedom  of  their  own  will  without  giving 
their  reasons  in  secular  matters,  much  more  should  it  be  so 
when  the  interest  of  souls,  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  con¬ 
cerns  of  eternity  are  at  stake.  And,  Fathers  and  Brethren, 
how  have  events  proved  that  it  was  not  without  reason  that 
we  insisted  on  a  veto  without  reasons  ?  The  Church  Settle¬ 
ment  Act  has  done  nothing  but  unsettle  everything.  The 
arrangement  that  was  to  please  all  parties  has  displeased  all 
in  turn;  and  the  basis  on  which  the  Established  Church  was 
to  stand  against  all  attacks  from  without  and  from  within  is 
turning  out  to  be  a  ruin,  and  now  with  the  stones  of  it  the 
people  are  pelting  both  presentee  and  patron.  I  rejoice  at 
this;  not  so  much  because  it  proves  that  we  are  right, 


THE  DISRUPTION. 


39 


although  that  is  a  matter  of  some  satisfaction — and  I  do  not 
rejoice  at  it  at  all  because  it  damages  the  Established  Church 
— I  speak  for  myself,  and  commit  no  man  to  my  sentiments; 
for  when  I  took  this  chair,  I  claimed  the  liberty  of  speaking 
out  my  own  sentiments;  but  I  rejoice  at  it  because  I  think 
that  in  God’s  good  providence  it  will  come  permanently  to 
secure  for  the  people  of  the  Established  Church  the  rights 
which  they  so  frequently  ask,  and  which,  to  the  honour  of 
the  patrons  be  it  said,  they  now  so  often  concede.  Now,  it 
may  be  that  it  is  a  hard  thing  that  we  should  have  lost  our 
livings  for  principles  on  which  those  we  have  left  behind  us 
— who  have  stolen  our  clothes  when  we  were  not  bathing — 
should  now  be  acting.  But  would  they  have  acted  on  them 
if  we  had  not  gone  cut  ]  I  believe  never ;  and  if  the  effect 
of  these  matters  is  to  purify  the  Established  Church,  and 
enfranchise  her  people,  we  have  won  the  battle  after  all — 
only  it  happens  that  other  men  have  gone  in  and  reaped 
the  fruits  of  our  hard  fighting.” 

Whilst  approving  the  “veto,”  Dr  Guthrie  did  not  regard 
it  as  the  best  possible  remedy  for  the  evils  frequently 
attendant  upon  the  settlement  of  ministers  in  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  He  was  opposed  out  and  out  to  the  law  of 
patronage,  and  sought  its  abrogation.  He  said : — 

“Unmusical  as  I  am,  the  words  anti-patronage  are  sweet 
words  to  my  ear.  It  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be 
wished  by  the  friends  of  the  church  and  true  religion ;  until 
that  is  obtained  I  wish  no  resting  place  for  the  church  in 
her  present  conflict.  I  wish  the  flood  to  rise  and  swell,  and 
not  subside  until  the  ark  of  the  churches  is  landed  on  the 
.Ararat  of  anti-patronage.  Some  talk  of  the  difficulties 
and  danger  in  which  the  church  is  now  placed,  but  I  for 
one  rejoice  in  the  storms  which  are  compelling  the  church 
to  take  refuge  in  the  haven  of  anti-patronage.  Government 


40 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


is,  in  fact,  doing  for  us  what  we  cannot  do  for  ourselves. 
When  William  of  Orange  sailed  for  England,  he  meditated 
landing  on  a  spot  which  was  the  very  lion's  den  for  him ; 
but,  wonderfully  enough,  the  wind  blew  strong  from  that 
quarter.  It  rose  to  a  hurricane,  and  eventually,  contrary  to 
his  wishes,  he  was  drifted,  and  compelled  to  land  in  the  very 
spot  that  was  best  and  safest  for  him.  So  with  the  church ; 
she  has  tried  to  effect  a  landing  at  Veto ,  and  next  after  this 
she  was  in  danger  of  striking  on  the  shoals  of  Liberum 
Arbitrium,  but  the  force  of  wind  and  tide  has  at  last  driven 
her  into  the  harbour  of  anti-patronage,  where  she  will  be 
safest  and  best.” 

Long  before  the  days  of  Non-intrusion,  the  fires  of  per¬ 
secution  had  been  put  out  in  Scotland,  but  the  principle  if 
not  the  spirit  of  persecution  yet  remained.  The  civil  power 
still  sought  to  lord  it  over  the  ecclesiastical,  and  put  the 
Christian  conscience  in  leading  strings,  if  not  in  fetters. 
Happily  for  the  church  and  for  the  world,  the  martyr  spirit 
had  not  forsaken  the  land  consecrated  by  martyrs’  blood. 
Of  this  spirit  Dr  Guthrie  had  a  full  share.  When  the 
Strathbogie  ministers  were  suspended,  and  when  they 
applied  for  and  obtained  interdicts  from  the  Court  of 
Session  prohibiting  the  minister  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly  from  preaching  in  their  parishes,  Dr  Guthrie  was 
one  of  those  who  set  the  interdict  at  defiance,  and  pro¬ 
claimed  himself  prepared  to  go  to  prison — which  was  the 
threatened  penalty — rather  than  be  guilty  of  rendering  to 
Caesar  in  this  matter  the  things  that  were  God’s.  But  we 
must  give  the  story  in  his  own  words  : — 

“  I  have  had  enough  of  fighting  in  my  day.  I  thought 
I  was  done  with  it.  I  look  upon  it  as  a  serious  calamity 
when  the  civil  and  church  courts  come  into  collision.  We 
may  come  to  yield  to  what  we  think  wrong  in  civil  matters, 


THE  DISRUPTION, 


41 


but  we  cannot  yield  to  wliat  we  think  wrong  in  spiritual 
matters.  I  have  no  desire  to  be  placed  in  the  position  I 
was  in  before,  when,  in  going  to  preach  at  Strathbogie,  I 
was  met  by  an  interdict  from  the  Court  of  Session,  an 
interdict  to  which,  as  regards  civil  matters,  I  gave  implicit 
obedience.  The  better  day  the  better  deed,  it  is  said ;  and 
on  the  Lord’s  day,  when  I  was  preparing  for  Divine  service, 
in  came  a  servant  of  the  law  and  handed  me  an  interdict. 
I  told  him  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  I  would  do  mine.  I 
was  present  with  Dr  Cunningham  and  Dr  Candlish  in  the 
Court  of  Session,  and  saw  the  Presbytery  of  Dunkeld  brought 
to  the  bar  for  breach  of  interdict,  and  I  heard  the  Lord 
President  of  the  Court  of  Session  say,  that,  on  the  next 
occasion  when  the  ministers  broke  an  interdict,  they  would 
be  visited  with  all  the  penalties  of  the  law.  The  penalties 
of  the  law  were  to  get  lodgings  free  gratis  in  the  Calton 
jail.  That  was  my  position  on  that  Sabbath  morning.  That 
interdict  forbade  me,  under  the  penalty  of  the  Calton-hill 
jail,  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  parish  church  of  Strathbogie. 
I  said  the  parish  chjirches  are  stone  and  lime,  and  belong  to 
the  State.  I  will  not  preach  there.  It  forbade  me  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  school-houses.  I  said  the  school-houses 
are  stone  and  lime,  and  belong  to  the  State.  I  will  not 
preach  there.  It  forbade  me  to  preach  in  the  church-yard. 
I  said  the  dust  of  the  dead  is  the  State’s.  I  will  not  preach 
there.  But  when  those  Lords  of  Session  forbade  me  to 
preach  my  Master’s  blessed  gospel,  and  offer  salvation  to 
sinners,  anywhere  in  that  district  under  the  arch  of  heaven, 
I  put  the  interdict  under  my  foot,  and  I  preached  the  gospel. 
I  defied  them  to  punish  me,  and  I  have  not  been  punished 
down  to  this  day.” 

When  the  Disruption  happened  in  1843,  Dr  Guthrie’s 
course  was  clear.  At  the  Convocation  he  had  taken  up  his 

D 


42  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

ground  firmly,  and  had  been  useful  in  confirming  the  minds 
of  some  that  were  then  wavering.  On  the  18th  of  May, 
he  was  among  the  foremost  and  heartiest  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Free  Church  movement;  and  the  cheery  tones  of  his 
voice,  ringing  through  Tanfield  Hall,  were  in  singularly 
close  accord  with  the  feelings  of  the  enthusiastic  multitude 
that  cheered  him  to  the  echo.  On  that  eventful  day  he 
thus  spoke :  “  I  am  no  longer  minister  of  St  John's.  I 
understand  that  this  day  there  has  been  a  great  slaughter 
in  the  Old  Assembly,  and  among  the  rest  my  connection 
with  the  Established  Church  has  been  cut,  or  rather,  I  may 
say,  I  have  cut  it  myself.  I  know  they  have  resolved  to 
declare  my  church  vacant.  They  may  save  themselves  the 
trouble.” 

To  say  that  Dr  Guthrie  never  regretted  the  Disruption,  nor 
cherished  the  faintest  hankering  after  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt, 
would  be  to  utter  only  half  the  truth.  He  was  ever  ready  to 
vindicate  the  principles  which  led  to  the  Disruption,  and  he 
cordially  rejoiced  in  the  fruits  which  it  had  produced.  Nearly 
twenty  years  after  that  great  event  we  find  him  saying :  “  But 
to  cherish  sentiments  so  eminently  apostolical,  so  calculated 
to  foster  union,  and  pour  the  oil  of  peace  on  the  stormy  waters, 
does  not  imply  that  we  must  see  things  otherwise  than  once 
we  did,  even  amid  the  fiery  heat  and  dust  of  battle;  nor  does 
it  imply  that  we  now,  though  sobered  by  age,  and  removed 
by  twenty  years  from  the  final  struggle,  regard  the  principles 
for  which  we  contended  other  than  we  did  in  the  day  of 
contention,  or  that  those  principles  in  our  judgment  have  lost 
one  single  inch  of  their  height  and  depth,  of  their  breadth 
and  length.  If  they  had  been  points  and  not  principles, 
distance  of  time  would  have  had  such  an  effect  upon  them  as 
distance  of  place  has  upon  other  things — on  the  mountain,  that 
it  reduces  to  a  molehill.  But  while  the  higher  ranges  of  the 


THE  DISRUPTION. 


43 


Alps,  to  one  who  has  retired  far  from  them,  seem  but  drifted 
snow-heaps  lying  on  the  far  horizon,  the  star  that  shines  above 
the  hoary  head  of  their  monarch  is  not  so  affected ;  it  shines 
as  bright,  and  looks  as  big  to  the  seaman  on  the  distant 
main  as  to  the  peasant  in  the  Vale  of  Chamouni. 

“And  so,  in  contradistinction  to  points,  principles,  like 
things  that  belong  to  heaven,  are  unchanged  by  years  or  by 
latitude :  like  the  fixed  stars,  or  Him  that  made  them,  they 
are  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  We  have  seen, 
and  it  is  well  the  world  should  know  it,  no  cause  to  think 
less,  but  rather  more,  of  Disruption  principles.  The  right 
of  a  church  to  rule  her  proceedings  by  the  ordinances  of 
her  own  Divine  Head,  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  choose 
their  own  pastors,  are  clearer  to  my  eye  than  ever.  What  has 
been  the  history  of  the  last  nineteen  years'?  The  Free 
Church  is  nearly  major  now,  and  should  be  getting  on 
to  sense.  What,  I  ask,  has  been  the  history  of  the  church 
for  the  last  nineteen  years  'l  Harmonious  settlements,  un¬ 
scattered  flocks,  peace,  a  good  measure  of  plenty  within  our 
borders — mutual  regard  among  the  brethren.  ‘  Better  is  a 
dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is,  than  a  stalled  ox  and  hatred 
therewith/  We  left  the  Establishment  for  liberty,  and  liberty 
is  sweet.  Our  fathers  laid  down  their  lives  for  it,  and  we  laid 
down  our  livings  for  it.  We  will  never  repent  it,  and  thank 
God  for  our  beloved  Sovereign,  and  our  free  Constitution,  we 
have  revelled  in  the  sweetness  of  it  for  the  last  nineteen  years. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  to  rob  us  of  the  fruits  of  our  suffer¬ 
ings  and  victory  except  one  [the  Cardross  case] :  and  those  who 
made  that  attempt  seem  to  me  very  much  in  the  condition  of 
Pharaoh  and  his  men  of  war  in  the  Red  Sea.  They  have  got 
in,  and  I  fancy  they  would  thank  any  one  to  show  them  the 
way  out.” 

On  leaving  St  J ohn’s  Church  his  congregation  obtained 


44 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE.  D.D. 


temporary  accommodation  in  the  Wesleyan  Chapel  in 
Nicolson  Square.  But  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  a  new 
church  was  built  for  the  congregation  on  the  Castle  Hill, 
close  to  the  old  one,  and  Dr  Guthrie  entered  on  a  new  era 
of  his  ministry,  and  was  more  popular  than  ever. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MANSE  SCHEME — REFUSAL  OF  SITES — CANOBIE. 

The  Disruption,  and  tlie  struggle  which  led  to  it,  produced 
great  men;  it  was  the  outcome  and  vindication  of  great 
principles;  it  was  accomplished  at  such  a  sacrifice  for 
conscience  sake  that  history  records  few,  if  any,  so  great; 
it  excited  great  interest,  great  surprise,  great  admiration, 
great  grief,  and  great  joy;  and  it  led  to  the  formation  and 
execution  of  such  schemes  of  Christian  finance  as  have 
inspired  the  church  with  hope,  and  made  men  of  the  world 
wonder.  During  the  early  years  of  the  Free  Church  no 
man  was  more  laborious,  earnest,  and  self-sacrificing  than 
Dr  Guthrie  in  forwarding  its  interests  and  advocating  its 
schemes.  But  there  was  one  scheme  with  which  he  specially 
identified  himself,  and  with  which  his  name  will  ever  be 
associated  in  the  history  of  Disruption  times  and  achieve¬ 
ments. 

The  interests  of  the  country  ministers  had  a  very  large 
place  in  his  heart.  The  Building  and  Sustentation  Funds 
had  done  much  to  equalise  the  position  of  town  and  country 
ministers,  but  notwithstanding  this  it  was  lamentably  ap¬ 
parent  that  in  one  respect,  at  all  events,  the  country  mini¬ 
sters  were  in  a  much  worse  plight  than  their  city  brethren. 
In  many  cases  the  want  of  suitable  dwelling-houses  entailed 
a  suffering  which  could  not  be  thought  of  without  distress. 
His  tender  and  sympathetic  heart  was  touched  by  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  hardships  endured  by  many  of  these  brethren 
who,  like  himself,  were  suffering  for  conscience  sake.  The 
immediate  effect  of  the  Disruption  was  the  ejection  from 


46 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


their  manses  of  the  474  ministers  and  professors  who  had 
signed  the  Deed  of  Demission.  Little  or  no  time  was 
given  for  preparation;  and  in  several  instances,  in  remote 
Highland  parishes,  the  protesting  ministers  suffered,  it  may 
be  fatally,  from  the  hardships  and  privations  they  were 
compelled  to  undergo.  Thinking  how  he  could  best  and 
most  readily  help  them,  he  was  led  to  devise  one  of  those 
Herculean  schemes  which  only  men  of  large  heart  and  the 
most  unflinching  courage  are  able  to  entertain.  In  the 
first  General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  he  proposed  the 
scheme  of  a  General  Manse  Fund;  eloquently  urged  the 
necessity  of  making  immediate  provision  for  meeting  the 
loss  of  the  manses;  and  pleaded  that,  as  dwelling-house 
accommodation  was  the  most  pressing  and  paramount 
consideration,  all  other  arrangements  should  be  sub¬ 
ordinated  to  it.  He  offered  to  go  through  the  whole 
of  Scotland  and  plead  for  the  scheme  in  every  town,  village, 
and  parish  where  there  was  any  likelihood  of  contributions 
being  obtained.  The  sum  proposed  to  be  raised  was  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds.  He  fulfilled  his  promise.  Be¬ 
sides  visiting  frequently  from  house  to  house,  where  large 
subscriptions  on  behalf  of  the  manse  fund  were  likely  to  be 
got,  he  travelled  all  over  Scotland  and  part  of  England, 
made  such  urgent  and  eloquent  appeals,  and  so  stirred  the 
sympathies  of  the  people  that,  when  his  work  was  finished, 
there  was  a  fund  of  upwards  of  £116,000  collected  for 
manse  building  purposes.  Absent  for  just  a  year,  he 
travelled  the  country  “from  Cape  Wrath  to  the  border, 
and  from  the  German  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.”  “  Having,” 
he  says,  in  the  Assembly  of  1846,  “in  consequence  of  my 
mission,  visited  through  Aberdeen,  Dundee,  Edinburgh,  and 
Glasgow,  from  house  to  house,  and  from  family  to  family, 
I  stand  in  this  great  Assembly  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 


HEFUSAL  OF  SITES. 


47 


man  in  it  in  this  respect.  I  venture  to  say  there  is  no  man 
in  this  house  who  has  such  a  universal  acquaintanceship  as 
myself.” 

At  what  an  amount  of  personal  and  domestic  sacrifice 
this  was  done  cannot  be  estimated ;  but  one  little  circum¬ 
stance  may  be  mentioned.  In  the  midst  of  his  engagements 
for  this  fund,  scarlet  fever  assailed  his  large  household,  and 
for  a  time,  at  each  of  the  hurried  visits  which  he  was  able 
to  snatch  from  his  work  to  visit  his  family,  he  found  an 
additional  couple  of  his  children  prostrated  by  the  disease. 
His  family  all  recovered ;  but  to  the  noble-hearted  advocate 
of  the  scheme  himself  the  consequences  were  very  serious. 
The  excessive  labour  was  too  much  even  for  his  powerful 
frame ;  and  as  happens  so  commonly  in  the  case  of  men 
whose  energies  are  over-taxed,  the  heart  became  affected 
(1848),  and  the  foundation  was  laid  of  the  ailment  which, 
after  an  interval  of  twenty-five  years,  has  now  sent  him 
to  the  grave,  to  the  irreparable  loss  of  his  church  and  his 
friends. 

One  of  the  most  untoward  results  of  the  Disruption  was 
that  the  heritors  connected  with  the  Establishment,  viewing 
the  seceders  with  hostility,  refused  to  allow  them  sites  for 
the  erection  of  churches.  A  good  deal  of  personal  feeling 
was  aroused  on  this  score;  nor  was  it  until  a  select  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  was  appointed  to  deal  with  the 
subject,  that  the  heritors  could  be  induced  to  relent.  That 
Committee  did  not  recommend  legislation  on  so  painful  and 
delicate  a  subject,  but  it  expressed  an  opinion  so  strongly 
condemnatory  of  the  pitiful  conduct  of  those  who  refused 
sites,  that  the  Duke  of  Buccleucli  and  other  large  land- 
owners  were  constrained,  by  a  feeling  of  shame,  to  change 
their  conduct,  and  grant  to  the  Free  Churches  within  their 
domains  a  local  habitation.  Pitiful  were  the  accounts  given 


48 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


of  the  sufferings  both  of  congregations  and  ministers,  com¬ 
pelled  to  worship  all  the  year  round  on  the  public  highways, 
by  the  sea  shore,  and  under  the  open  canopy  of  heaven. 
The  sufferers  needed  sympathy  and  support,  and  no  one  was 
readier  to  give  both  than  Dr  Guthrie.  His  tender  heart 
could  feel  for  their  sufferings,  and  his  eloquent  tongue  could, 
as  with  trumpet  sound,  tell  their  wrongs.  Canobie  in  Dum¬ 
friesshire  was  one  of  the  most  noted  places  where  a  site  had 
been  refused,  and  where  the  worshippers  suffered  most. 
Dr  Guthrie  visited  this  scene  of  petty  ducal  persecution, 
preached  to  the  people,  and  has  given  the  following  graphic 
account  of  the  circumstances  and  services : — 

“  Well  wrapped  up,  I  drove  out  to  Canobie,  the  hills  white 
with  snow,  the  roads  covered  ankle-deep  in  many  parts  with 
slush,  wind  high  and  cold,  thick  rain  lashing  on,  and  the  Esk 
by  our  side  all  the  way  roaring  in  the  snow-flood  between 
bank  and  brae.  We  passed  Johnnie  Armstrong’s  tower,  yet 
strong,  even  in  its  ruins,  and  after  a  drive  of  four  miles,  a 
turn  of  the  road  brought  us  in  view  of  a  sight  which  was 
overwhelming,  and  would  have  brought  the  salt  tears  into  the 
eye  of  any  man  of  common  humanity.  There,  under  the  naked 
boughs  of  some  spreading  oak-trees,  at  a  point  where  a 
country  road  joined  the  turnpike,  stood  a  tent,  around,  or 
rather  in  front  of  which,  was  gathered  a  large  group  of 
muffled  men  and  women,  with  some  little  children,  a  few 
sitting,  most  of  them  standing,  and  some  old  venerable 
widows  cowering  under  the  scanty  shelter  of  umbrellas.  On 
all  sides  each  road  was  adding  a  stream  of  plaided  men  and 
muffled  women  to  the  group,  till  the  congregation  increased 
to  between  500  and  600,  gathering  in  the  very  road,  and 
waiting  for  my  coming  from  a  mean  inn  where  I  found 
shelter  till  the  hour  of  worship.  During  the  psalm  singing 
and  the  first  prayer,  I  was  in  the  tent;  but  finding  that  I 


CANOBIE. 


49 


would  be  uncomfortably  confined,  I  took  up  my  position  on 
a  chair  in  front,  having  my  hat  on  my  head,  my  Codrington 
close  buttoned  up  to  my  throat,  and  a  pair  of  bands,  which 
were  wet  enough  with  rain  ere  the  service  was  over.  The 
rain  lashed  on  heavily  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sermon, 
but  no  one  budged,  and  when  my  hat  was  off  during  the 
last  prayer,  some  one  kindly  extended  an  umbrella  over  my 
head.  I  was  so  interested,  so  were  the  people,  that  our 
forenoon  service  continued  for  four  hours  At  the  close  I 
felt  so  much  for  the  people — it  was  such  a  sad  sight  to  see 
old  men  and  women,  some  children,  and  one  or  two  indi¬ 
viduals  pale  and  sickly,  and  apparently  near  the  grave,  all 
wet  and  benumbed  with  the  keen  wind  and  cold  rain — that 
I  proposed  to  have  no  afternoon  service,  but  this  was  met 
with  universal  dissent.  One  and  all  declared  that,  if  I  would 
hold  on,  they  would  stay  in  the  road  till  midnight ; 
so  we  met  again  at  three  o’clock,  and  it  poured  on  almost 
without  intermission  during  the  whole  sermon;  and  that 
over,  shaken  cordially  by  many  a  man  and  woman’s  hand,  I 
got  into  the  gig,  and  drove  on  here  in  time  for  an  evening 
sermon,  followed,  through  rain  in  the  heavens  and  the  wet 
snow  in  the  road,  by  numbers  of  the  people. 

“  The  people  spoke  respectfully  of  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch, 
and  were  anxious  to  give  no  offence.  I  preached  subse¬ 
quently  on  tho  open  hill,  down  in  a  sort  of  hollow,  and 
the  people  were  ranged  on  the  side  of  the  mountain.  It 
was  a  swampy  place  in  which  I  preached,  and  I  wished  to 
have  some  protection  between  my  feet  and  the  wet  ground. 
I  saw  some  fine  planks  of  wood  lying  close  by,  and  wondered 
why  the  people  did  not  take  them  and  use  them.  In  place 
of  that,  they  went  into  a  house  and  brought  out  an  old  door. 
After  the  sermon,  I  was  naturally  led  to  ask  why  they  did 
not  bring  the  planks  that  were  lying  close  by,  and  they  said 


50 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


these  were  not  theirs,  that  they  belonged  to  the  Duke  of 
Buccleuch,  and  that  they  would  not  touch  them  in  case  any 
offence  might  be  taken  at  their  doing  so.” 

Before  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  to  which  allusion 
has  already  been  made,  Dr  Guthrie  subsequently  tendered 
evidence  on  the  Canobie  affair.  He  said  he  felt  that  the 
refusal  of  a  site  was  a  grievous  and  unwarrantable  exercise 
of  power ;  and  that  when  he  saw  the  reputable,  honest,  and 
religious  inhabitants  of  Canobie  necessitated  to  worship  the 
God  of  their  fathers  on  a  turnpike  road,  he  was  so  over¬ 
whelmed  by  the  sight  that  “he  felt  as  if  he  could  not 
preach.” 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


RAGGED  SCHOOLS. 

On  the  subject  of  Dr  Guthrie's  efforts  for  ragged  schools 
whole  volumes  might  be  written;  we  can  only  indicate  its 
more  salient  features.  As  to  the  origin  of  the  movement, 
we  will  let  the  Doctor  tell  his  own  story.  “It  is  rather 
curious,"  he  says,  “at  least  it  is  interesting  to  me,  that  it 
was  by  a  picture  I  was  first  led  to  take  an  interest  in  ragged 
schools;  a  picture  in  an  old,  obscure,  decaying  burgh,  that 
stands  on  the  shore  of  the  Firth  of  Forth.  I  had  gone 
thither  with  a  companion  on  a  pilgrimage;  not  that  there 
was  any  beauty  about  the  place,  for  it  had  no  beauty.  It 
has  little  trade.  Its  deserted  harbour,  silent  streets,  and 
old  houses,  some  of  them  nodding  to  their  fall,  gave  indica¬ 
tions  of  decay.  But  one  circumstance  has  redeemed  it  from 
obscurity,  and  will  preserve  its  name  to  the  latest  ages.  It 
G  as  the  birthplace  of  Thomas  Chalmers.  I  went  to  see  this 
place.  It  is  many  years  ago.  And  going  into  an  inn  for 
refreshments,  I  found  the  room  covered  with  pictures  of 
shepherdesses  with  their  crooks,  and  tars  in  holiday  attire 
not  very  interesting.  But  above  the  chimney-piece  there 
stood  a  large  print,  more  respectable  than  its  neighbours, 
which  a  skipper,  the  captain  of  one  of  the  few  ships  that 
trade  between  that  town  and  England,  had  probably  brought 
there.  It  represented  a  cobbler's  room.  The  cobbler  was 
there  himself,  spectacles  on  nose,  an  old  shoe  between  his 
knees — that  massive  forehead  and  firm  mouth  expressing 
great  determination  of  character,  and  below  his  bushy 
eyebrows  benevolence  gleamed  out  on  a  number  of  poor 


52 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


ragged  boys  and  girls,  who  stood  at  their  lessons  around 
the  busy  cobbler.  My  curiosity  was  excited,  and  on  the 
inscription  I  read  how  this  man,  John  Pounds,  a  cobbler  in 
Portsmouth,  taking  pity  on  the  poor  ragged  children  left 
by  ministers  and  magistrates,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to 
run  in  the  streets,  had,  like  a  good  shepherd,  gathered  in 
the  wretched  outcasts;  how  he  had  brought  them  to  God 
and  the  world;  and  how,  while  earning  his  bread  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow,  he  had  rescued  from  misery,  and  saved 
to  society,  not  less  than  five  hundred  of  these  children.  I 
felt  ashamed  of  myself  for  the  little  I  had  done.” 

From  this  time  forward,  the  idea  of  a  ragged  school  fixed 
itself  in  Dr  Guthrie’s  mind.  It  “grew  by  what  it  fed  on.” 
He  watched,  with  eager  interest,  the  progress  of  the  school 
established  in  Aberdeen  by  Sheriff  Watson — the  first  in 
Scotland.  Shortly  afterwards  another  ragged  school, 
founded  at  Dundee,  “  turned  a  presumption  into  a  fact,”  and 
proved  both  to  himself  and  those  whom  he  consulted,  that 
there  was  “no  way  of  securing  the  amelioration  and  salvation 
of  these  forlorn,  outcast,  and  destitute  children,  but  by 
making  their  maintenance  a  bridge  and  stepping  stone  to 
their  education.”  In  his  “Pleas  for  Ragged  Schools,”  the 
Doctor  relates  how,  strolling  one  day  with  a  friend  among 
the  romantic  scenery  of  the  crags  and  green  valleys  round 
Arthur  Seat,  they  sat  down  on  a  great  black  stone  beside 
it  to  have  a  talk  with  the  ragged  boys  who  pursue  their 
calling  there.  With  reference  to  the  scheme  then  shaping 
itself  in  his  head,  and  by  way  of  experiment,  he  said  to  the 
boys,  “would  you  go  to  school,  if,  besides  your  learning,  you 
were  to  get  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper  there1?”  “It 
would  have  done  any  man’s  heart  good,”  says  the  Doctor,  “to 
have  seen  the  flash  of  joy  that  broke  from  the  eyes  of  one  of 
them — the  flush  of  pleasure  on  his  cheek,  as,  hearing  of  three 


RAGGED  SCHOOLS. 


53 


sure  meals  a  day,  the  boy  leapt  to  his  feet  and  exclaimed, 
“Aye,  will  I,  sir,  and  bring  the  haill  land  (tenement)  too;” 
and  then,  as  if  afraid  I  might  withdraw  what  seemed  to  him 
so  large  and  munificent  an  offer,  he  exclaimed,  “I’ll  come 
for  but  my  dinner,  sir.” 

The  publication  of  the  first  “  Plea  for  Ragged  Schools,”  in 
which  the  writer  displayed  even  more  than  his  usual  pathos, 
and  adduced  many  appalling  facts  on  behalf  of  his  project, 
awakened  a  powerful  interest,  not  only  in  Edinburgh,  but 
throughout  the  whole  country.  The  response  made  to  the 
appeal  was  so  liberal  that  a  Committee  was  appointed  and 
other  steps  were  taken  for  initiating  the  movement,  which 
was  fairly  launched  in  June,  1847,  at  a  meeting  held  in 
Edinburgh,  and  attended  by  gentlemen  of  all  ranks  and 
denominations.  The  scheme  was  modelled  after  those  of 
Aberdeen  and  Dundee.  At  first  the  Committee  did  not 
attempt  much.  There  was  great  difficulty  found  in  obtaining 
suitable  accommodation  for  the  schools  in  a  central  part  of 
the  city,  but  this  difficulty  was  eventually  overcome  through 
the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  Mr  Smith  and  the  Kirk-Session  of 
the  Tolbooth  parish,  who  provided  a  large  and  commodious 
school-room  at  Ramsay  Garden,  Castlehill. 

By  the  “  Constitution  and  Rules  of  the  Association  for  the 
Establishment  of  Ragged  Industrial  Schools  for  destitute 
children  in  Edinburgh,”  it  was  provided  that  the  aim  to  be 
kept  in  view  was  “  to  reclaim  the  neglected  and  destitute 
children  of  Edinburgh,  by  affording  them  the  benefits  of  a 
good  common  and  Christian  education,  and  by  training  them 
to  habits  of  regular  industry,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  earn 
an  honest  livelihood,  and  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  life.” 
The  following  classes  of  children  were  excluded  '.—first, 
Those  who  are  already  regularly  attending  day  schools; 
second ,  Those  whose  parents  are  earning  a  regular  income, 


54  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

and  able  to  procure  education  for  their  children ;  third,  Those 
who  are  receiving,  or  are  entitled  to  receive,  support  and 
education  from  the  Parochial  Board; — with  this  declaration, 
that  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  the  Acting  Committee  to 
deal  with  special  cases,  though  falling  under  any  of  these 
classes,  having  regard  always  to  the  special  objects  of  the 
Association. 

The  general  plan  upon  which  the  schools  were  to  be 
conducted  was  as  follows : — 

To  give  the  children  an  adequate  allowance  of  food  for 
their  daily  support. 

To  instruct  them  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic 

To  train  them  in  habits  of  industry,  by  instructing  and 
employing  them  daily  in  such  sorts  of  work  as  are  suited  to 
their  years. 

To  teach  them  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  making  the  Holy 
Scriptures  the  groundwork  of  instruction. 

On  Sabbath  the  children  shall  receive  food  as  on  other 
days,  and  such  religious  instruction  as  shall  be  arranged  by 
the  Acting  Committee. 

The  movement  grew  and  prospered.  The  first  yearly 
report,  dated  March  31,  1848,  showed  that  the  total  number 
of  children  admitted  since  the  opening  of  the  school  was 
310  boys,  199  girls;  total,  509.  Of  this  number  230 
were  under  ten  years  of  age.  As  to  the  particular  cir¬ 
cumstances  in  which  the  children  were  found,  one  of  the 
annual  reports  thus  speaks : — 

Found  homeless,  and  provided  with  lodgings,  72 


Children  with  both  parents,  -  -  32 

With  the  father  dead,  -  -  -  -  140 

Mother  dead, . 89 

Deserted  by  parents,  -  -  -  -  43 


RAGGED  SCHOOLS. 


55 


With  one  or  both  parents  transported,  -  9 

Fatherless,  with  drunken  mothers,  -  -  77 

Motherless,  with  drunken  fathers,  -  -  66 

With  both  parents  worthless,  84 

Who  have  been  beggars,  -  -  -  -  271 

Who  have  been  in  the  police  office,  -  -  75 

Who  have  been  in  prison,  -  -  -  20 

Known  as  children  of  thieves,  -  -  76 

Believed  to  be  so,  including  the  preceding,  -  148 


In  the  face  of  such  terrible  figures  as  these  it  is  perhaps 
little  wonder  that  a  lady  once  asked  Dr  Guthrie  whether 
he  invented  his  stories. 

For  a  number  of  years  Dr  Guthrie  threw  his  whole  heart 
and  soul  into  the  cause  of  the  ragged  schools.  Nothing 
afforded  him  greater  pleasure  than  the  opportunity  of  show¬ 
ing  to  his  friends  and  those  who  sat  in  high  places,  the 
beneficent  operations  of  the  system.  One  day,  he  had  shown 
Thackeray  and  a  distinguished  member  of  Parliament 
through  the  schools  Turning  to  Mr  Thackeray,  the  latter 
said,  “This  is  an  agreeable  sight.”  The  distinguished 
novelist  replied,  it  was  the  finest  view  in  all  Edinburgh — 
the  most  touching  sight  he  ever  saw.  The  other  then 
remarked,  “I  see  where  the  whole  power  of  this  ragged 
school  lies.  It  is,  first,  in  the  food;  and  secondly,  in  the 
twelve  hours  daily  in  the  school.”  Dr  Guthrie’s  own  opinion 
was  that  these  two  things  constituted  the  whole  secret  and 
power  of  their  machinery. 

The  Doctor  was  never  tired  of  urging  the  claims  of  the 
ragged  school  on  politico-economical  grounds.  Referring 
on  one  occasion,  shortly  after  their  establishment,  to  the 
Lord  Advocate’s  calculation  that  the  expense  of  a  criminal 
to  his  country,  on  an  average,  cannot  be  less  than  £300,  he 
argued  that  of  the  216  children  that  had  up  till  then  been 


56 


LIFE  OF  KEY.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE.  D.D. 


sent  to  employment,  supposing  that  186  had  done  well, 
that  number,  multiplied  by  300,  would  have  saved  to  the 
country  an  expense  of  between  £50,000  and  £60,000. 
There  was,  of  course,  a  large  per  centage  of  the  children  who 
failed  to  improve  their  opportunities,  and  returned  to  their 
old  haunts  and  associations.  But  an  overwhelming  majority 
became  respectable  members  of  society.  Speaking  at  one  of 
the  annual  meetings  on  the  results  achieved,  Dr  Guthrie  said, 
“We  have  ragged  scholars  that  are  cutting  down  the  forests 
in  America.  We  have  them  herding  sheep  in  Australia. 
We  have  them  in  the  navy;  and  what  d’ye  think !  there 
was  an  odd  thing  in  this  way;  we  had  a  competition  among 
boys  in  the  navy,  and  the  ragged  school  boys  carried  off 
the  highest  prize.  We  have  them  in  the  army,  too.  Just 
the  other  day  I  had  in  my  drawing-room  one  of  my  ragged 
scholars.  What  was  he  doing  there,  you  ask?  Well,  he 
was  just  standing  beside  a  very  pretty  girl  dressed  like  a 
duchess,  and  all  that.  There  he  was,  and  on  his  breast 
he  carried  three  medals.  He  had  fought  the  battles  of 
his  country  in  the  Crimea.  He  had  gone  up  the  deadly 
march  to  Lucknow,  and  rescued  the  women,  and  the  chil¬ 
dren,  and  the  soldiers  there.  And  was  I  not  proud  of  my 
ragged  school  boy  when  I  saw  him  with  his  honours?’'  No 
more  eloquent  testimony  to  the  success  of  the  ragged  school 
movement  could  be  furnished  than  this  well  attested  fact, 
that,  whereas  formerly  five  per  cent  of  the  criminals  were 
under  fourteen  years  of  age,  in  the  fourth  year  after  the 
establishment  of  these  schools,  the  proportion  was  reduced 
to  one  per  cent,  and  in  the  fifth  year,  the  per  centage  was 
only  half  a  juvenile. 

Every  one  who  has  had  occasion  to  knock  at  the  door  of 
the  National  Exchequer,  especially  on  behalf  of  new  and 
doubtful  projects,  has  found  admission  very  difficult.  This 


HAC4GED  SCHOOLS. 


57 


was  long  the  experience  of  Dr  Guthrie.  Every  resource 
within  his  power  he  used  to  move  the  Government ;  but  the 
national  purse  strings  were  drawn  closely  together,  and  he 
could  only  obtain  the  merest  pittance  for  his  schools.  He 
was,  however,  encouraged  to  persevere  in  his  appeals, 
believing  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  State  to  care  for  the 
moral  training  of  the  outcast  and  destitute,  and  that  pre~ 
vention  and  preventive  measures  should  be  more  generally 
attended  to.  He  complained  that  the  Government  gave 
much  more  to  the  reformatories  than  to  the  ragged  schools, 
and  remarked  thereanent,  -‘It  is  a  grand  thing  to  give  a 
man  a  fever,  and  then  cure  him ;  but  it  is  better  to  drain 
and  clean  the  town  and  prevent  the  fever  from  coming. 
Think  of  the  Government  refusing  money  to  save  a  man's 
leg,  but  giving  him  money  instead  to  buy  a  wooden  leg 
when  the  limb  is  cut  off !”  His  righteous  indignation  at  the 
apathetic  indifference  of  the  Government  to  the  training  of 
the  children  for  whom  the  ragged  schools  were  designed, 
was  expressed  even  more  forcibly  on  another  occasion  when, 
speaking  of  Lord  Palmerston's  Reformatory  Act,  he  thus 
described  it :  “  The  Act  says  to  us,  ‘  Don't  take  a  child  and 
send  him  to  a  ragged  school,  where  you  may  prevent  him 
from  becoming  a  criminal.  Don’t  take  him  while  he  is  on 
the  edge  of  the  precipice,  but  wait  till  he  has  fallen  down. 
Wait  till  he  has  become  a  criminal.  If  you  attempt  to  save 
a  child  from  becoming  a  criminal,  I  will  help  you  with  a 
penny  a-week ;  but  if  you  will  allow  the  child  to  become  a 
criminal  through  your  neglect,  and  then  try  to  rub  out  the 
mark,  you  will  get  seven  shillings  ! 9  99 

But  Dr  Guthrie  was  not  a  man  to  be  disheartened  because 
he  could  not  get  his  own  way.  He  continued  to  knock  at 
the  Treasury  door.  Three  times  he  was  at  the  head  of  a 
deputation  that  went  to  Downing  Street  and  complained  of 

E 


58  LIFE  OF  REV„  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

the  Government  treatment  of  ragged  schools.  The  last 
time  he  informed  Mr  Lowe,  who  was  then  at  the  Exchequer, 
of  the  success  that  had  attended  the  operations  of  the 
ragged  schools ;  of  the  extent  to  which  it  had  reduced  the 
number  of  commitments  to  prison;  and  of  the  remedy 
against  crime  which  it  provided.  Mr  Lowe,  making  use  of 
the  very  arguments  used  by  the  deputation,  replied  in  effect, 
“  Gentlemen,  it’s  no  affair  of  mine ;  it’s  a  matter  of  crime 
and  police.  Go  to  the  Home  Office,  and  they’ll  give  you  the 
money.”  It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  Home  Office  did  not 
see  the  case  in  the  same  light,  and  the  money  was  not  got. 

As  to  the  transformation  that  is  effected  in  the  children 
attending  the  ragged  school,  he  says,  “  I  have  seen  heaps  of 
filthy  rags,  such  as  may  be  cast  off  by  a  vagrant,  received  by 
the  man  of  science  and  art,  and  turned  into  a  creamy  pulp, 
and  afterwards  manufactured  into  a  fabric  as  white  as  snow, 
destined  to  receive  from  the  pen  the  words  of  wisdom  and 
of  knowledge,  and  to  carry  men’s  thoughts  abroad  over  the 
wide  world.  And  so  it  is  with  these  unhappy  children. 
They  are  the  raw  material,  and  by-and-bye  you  will  see  the 
fabric  we  make  out  of  it.” 

Very  soon  after  the  ragged  school  movement  was  fairly 
commenced,  a  dissension  arose  on  account  of  the  resolution 
of  the  Committee  to  have  the  Bible  taught  to  the  children. 
It  was  of  course  the  authorised  version  that  was  introduced, 
and  as  this  did  not  square  with  the  views  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  there  was  unpleasantness  and  recrimination.  Dr 
Guthrie  and  his  Committee  Avere  accused  of  introducing  “  a 
system  of  religious  tests,”  and  of  “  excluding  the  largest  por¬ 
tion  of  those  children  for  whom  the  schools  were  designed,” 
who  belonged  to  Irish  and  Roman  Catholic  parents.  Being 
thus  put  upon  their  trial,  the  Committee  published  a  state¬ 
ment  in  which,  by  the  constitution  and  rules  of  the  schools, 


RAGGED  SCHOOLS. 


59 


they  justified  the  use  of  the  Bible,  and  concluded  that  “  it 
would  be  utterly  ruinous  to  the  plan,  and  defeat  all  its 
benevolent  purposes,  especially  considering  the  criminal  and 
vagrant  habits  of  the  children  who  are  to  be  benefited  by  it, 
if  any  other  system  were  adopted  than  that  of  subjecting 
them  to  the  entire  moral  and  religious  discipline — simply 
based  upon  the  Word  of  God — which  it  purposes  to  bring 
to  bear  upon  them.”  Although  this  rupture  threatened  at 
the  time  to  restrict  the  usefulness  of  the  institution,  the 
probability  is  that  in  the  end  it  was  overruled  for  good. 
Lord  Murray  and  several  other  gentlemen  who  objected 
to  the  use  of  the  Bible,  took  steps  for  the  founding  of 
another  school,  which  was  successfully  established  under 
the  name  of  the  “  United  Industrial  School,”  in  South  Gray's 
Close.  Both  schools  have  failed  to  meet  the  actual  wants 
of  the  city ;  the  harvest  is  as  plentiful  as  ever;  and  although 
conducted,  so  far  as  religious  teaching  is  concerned,  on 
essentially  different  principles,  they  are  aiming  primarily  at 
the  same  end. 


C  II  APTEE  I  X. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 

From  the  part  that  Dr  Guthrie  took  in  the  promotion  of 
ragged  schools,  and  the  earnestness  with  which  he  sought 
for  them  State  support,  it  will  readily  be  inferred  that  he 
held  decided  and  liberal  opinions  on  the  general  subject  of 
education.  He  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  Lord  Advocate 
— James  MoncreiiFs  Education  Bill  of  1855,  “feeling,”  as  he 
has  put  it,  “  that  the  first  duty  of  the  State  is  to  educate  her 
people,  and  the  last  to  hang  them ;  believing  that  her  first 
duty  is  to  prevent  crime,  and  her  second  to  punish  it ; 
believing  that  the  first  duty  of  the  State  is  to  build  schools, 
and  her  second  to  build  prisons;  and  believing  that  the  State 
should  charge  herself  with  the  duty  of  seeing  that  no  child 
within  her  borders  goes  without  education,”  he  had  no 
hesitation  in  pleading  that  education  should  be  made  com¬ 
pulsory,  as  he  does  in  these  words  : — 

“  Why  does  the  State  take  care  that  the  child  of  every 
mill-spinner  should  be  taught,  and  punish  the  party  for 
neglecting  it,  and  not  take  the  same  care  of  the  children 
of  the  Grassmarket  and  the  Cowgate  ]  The  law  does  not 
allow  a  man  to  starve  his  child ;  it  is  very  cruel,  it  may  be 
said,  to  starve  the  body ;  very  cruel,  it  is  true,  and  the  State 
interferes  with  the  liberty  of  the  subject  there.  But  if  it  is 
right  in  the  law  to  compel  the  parent  to  feed  his  child's 
body,  is  it  right  in  the  law  to  allow  him  to  starve  his  child’s 
soul  ]  Suppose  the  law  did  not  compel  him  to  feed  his  child’s 
body,  death  would  step  in,  and  relieve  society  of  the  evil 
there;  but  if  it  does  not  compel  him  to  feed  the  child’s 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 


61 


mind,  what  happens]  The  untaught  child,  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  becomes  a  burden,  a  nuisance,  and  a  danger  to 
the  State. 

“From  the  First  Book  of  Discipline  I  find  that  one  of  the 
first  things  John  Knox  set  himself  to  was  the  matter  of 
schools.  He  provided  that  there  should  be  in  every  large 
town  in  Scotland  a  college,  in  every  notable  town  a  grammar 
school,  and  in  every  parish  a  common  school.  Ay,  and  still 
more — and  in  this  I  have  always  been  a  follower  of  J ohn 
Knox,  and  intend  to  be  so  to  the  end  of  the  chapter — John 
Knox  goes  on  to  say  that  no  parent,  whoever  he  may  be, 
whether  a  dealer  in  rags  in  the  Cowgate,  or  whether  a  laird 
or  a  duke,  ‘that  no  parent,  of  whatever  station  he  might, 
be  allowed  to  train  up  his  children  according  to  his  own 
fantasy,  but  that  he  should  be  compelled  to  give  his  children 
an  education  in  virtue  and  learning/  I  maintain  that  no 
man  is  entitled  to  breed  wild  beasts  in  this  country  for  the 
sake  of  the  play  of  hunting  tigers  and  wolves  which  will 
endanger  the  lives  of  other  men.  No  man  is  entitled  to 
breed  the  most  dangerous  of  all  wild  beasts,  a  two-legged 
uneducated  animal!  Talk  of  liberty!  I  hold  that  any 
liberty,  the  liberty  of  walking  about  in  freedom  and  personal 
safety,  is  encroached  on,  if  children  are  brought  up  in  such  a 
way  as  to  be  dangerous  to  the  community.  Men  are 
‘  havering ?  up  yonder  in  Parliament  about  espionage.  Do 
we  hear  anything  of  espionage  in  levying  the  taxes  of  the 
country,  as  in  making  a  man  tell  what  his  income  is;  and 
will  any  man  call  it  espionage  to  see  that  every  parent 
educates  his  children  ]” 

He  was  in  favour  of  the  Bible  being  taught  in  the  school, 
but  did  justice  to  the  views  and  motives  of  those  who 
believe  that  it  would  be  for  the  interest  of  religion  itself 
that  its  teaching  should  be  left  to  the  home  circle,  the 


62 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


Sabbath  school,  and  the  church.  He  was  strongly  opposed 
to  the  denominational  system,  and  augered  the  best  results 
from  a  national,  unsectarian,  and  liberal  system  of  education. 
He  greatly  disliked  the  continuous  fighting  over  petty 
differences  whilst  the  children  were  neglected  and  perishing, 
and  he  severely  rebuked,  in  his  own  style,  the  efforts  made 
by  the  Established  Church  to  get,  by  means  of  the  Parish 
School  Bill,  the  control  of  education  almost  wholly  into  her 
own  power.  In  view  of  the  Bill  which  has  now  become 
law,  his  words  of  rebuke  and  warning  may  be  regarded  as 
almost  prophetic.  We  give  with  pleasure  some  of  his 
manly,  able,  truthful  utterances  on  these  various  phases  of 
the  education  question. 

“  I  have  heard  of  kirks  where  so  few  sat  that  you  might 
drive  a  cart-load  of  whins  through  them,  and  it  would  not 
job  a  living  soul;  but  these  kirks  would  be  entirely  eclipsed 
by  any  secular  schools  if  they  were  attempted  in  Scotland. 
I  would  have  no  objections  myself  that  religion  should  be 
in  the  Bill,  but  then  I  don’t  care  whether  it  is  or  not,  for  I 
am  sure  it  will  be  in  the  school. 

~  “I  prefer  secular  education  to  no  education  whatever;  and 
the  principle  has  been  recognised  by  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
which  never  thrust  on  Roman  Catholics  the  principles  of  the 
Protestant  faith.  The  people  of  Scotland  are  at  one  as  to 
the  religion  taught  in  the  school,  and  even  as  to  that  taught 
in  the  pulpit.  Give  us  a  national  education  for  Presbyterians, 
and  I  will  join  you  in  doing  what  can  be  done  for  those  not 
provided  for.  The  fear  of  secular  education  is  the  veriest 
bugbear.  There  have  been  many  voluntary  adventure 
schools  in  Scotland,  managed  by  the  people  themselves,  in 
which  I  put  more  confidence  than  in  church  or  State;  and  I 
challenge  any  one  to  mention  an  instance  of  a  school  so  set 
up,  where  the  Bible  is  not  as  well,  if  not  better  taught  than 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 


63 


in  the  pulpit  schools.  Just  put  on  the  door  of  a  school  in 
Scotland,  The  Bible  is  not  taught  here,  and  I  will 
answer  for  it,  you  will  have  no  scholars. 

“  I  am,  however,  bound  to  say  in  favour  of  those  who  are 
secularists,  that  there  are  many  among  them  who,  to  my 
own  knowledge,  are  as  devout  as  any  man  on  this  platform. 
I  am  bound  to  say  this  in  justice  to  them,  that  they  believe 
that  religion  would  be  better  taught  in  the  houses  of  the 
people  than  at  school,  and  therefore  they  would  roll  the 
whole  responsibility  of  this  over  upon  the  pastors  and 
parents.  I  don't  agree  with  them  in  this,  it  is  true ;  but  if 
you  ask  me  whether  I  believe  the  religion  taught  at  home 
or  in  the  school  is  the  best,  I  would  at  once  answer,  the 
religion  taught  at  home.  But  if  this  were  a  good  reason 
why  we  should  have  no  schools  with  religion  taught  in  them, 
it  is  just  as  good  a  reason  why  we  should  have  neither 
churches  nor  pulpits ;  and  if  you  ask  me  whether  it  is  best 
to  have  religion  taught  in  the  school  or  religion  taught  in 
the  parental  home,  I  say  with  the  man,  Why,  both 
are  best. 

“  I  am  no  bigot.  Everybody  that  knows  me  knows  that  I 
hold  what  many  of  my  friends  think  loose  views  on  the 
subject  of  education.  People  tell  me  I  should  take  high 
ground  on  that  subject.  Why,  I  think  the  top  of  a  steeple 
is  high  ground,  but  it  is  not  very  safe. 

“  Give  me  a  common  education,  the  different  denomina¬ 
tions  working  together  in  one  common  good  cause.  Give 
me  this,  as  Dr  Chalmers  used  to  say,  and  it  will  sweeten  the 
breath  of  society,  and  soften  the  asperity  of  the  violent 
speech,  and,  I  may  say,  the  uncharitableness  of  which  we 
have  heard  of  late  too  much  from  the  people  of  all  parties, 
especially  from  the  clergy.  I  have  extremely  regretted  the 
strong  language  which  has  been  used.  I  do  not  think  I  have 


64 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


used  such  language  myself ;  but  when  I  read  the  reports  of 
some  of  those  meetings  where  men  have  brought  into  the 
question  the  artillery  of  their  prejudices  and  passions,  and 
when  afterwards  I  have  walked  down  the  High  Street,  or 
some  such  part  of  the  city,  I  must  say  I  have  felt  my  indig¬ 
nation  burning  within  me  in  a  way  I  found  difficult  to 
express.  Why,  what  are  these  points  about  which  they 
make  such  wrangling  as  has  deafened  the  ears  of  the  people, 
to  those  wretched,  naked,  unwashed,  unshorn,  uncared-for, 
lost,  perishing,  doomed  children,  that  crowd  the  streets  and 
lanes — what  are  these  points  to  them?  My  disturbing 
points  will  look  little  enough  when  I  am  lying  on  a  bed 
of  death;  and  my  disturbing  points  look  little  too  when 
I  go  down  among  my  poor  fellow-creatures;  and  sure 
I  am,  that  if  some  of  my  friends  would  come  with  me,  and 
spend  one  short  forenoon  in  these  places  where  I  have  been 
till  my  heart  has  been  like  to  break,  and  I  could  hardly  eat 
the  bread  on  my  own  table,  it  would  make  them  ready  to 
agree  almost  to  anything. 

“You  may  not  get  the  old  stagers  to  unite  on  a  system  of 
education.  You  will  not  get  the  old  branches  of  the  tree 
to  unite ;  but  take  the  young  branches,  and  twist  and  twine 
them  together,  and  they  will  be  uniting  before  another 
summer  is  gone.  I  have  no  hope  of  these  old  stagers,  but  I 
have  great  hope  of  the  children.  It  is  wonderful  what  you 
may  do  if  you  get  the  young  to  agree  together.  I  saw  a 
happy  family  the  last  time  I  was  in  London;  animals  of  the 
most  antagonistic  natures  lying  together  in  peace,  because 
they  had  been  put  together  when  young,  and  fed,  bred,  and 
nursed  together.  I  saw  the  mavis  sleeping  under  the  wing 
of  the  hawk ;  and  I  saw  an  old,  grave,  reverend  owl  looking 
down  most  complacently  on  a  little  mouse ;  and,  with  the 
restless  activity  of  his  species,  &  monkey  sitting  on  a  branch, 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 


65 


scratching  his  head — for  an  idea,  I  presume — and  then 
reaching  down  his  long  arm  and  seizing  a  big  rat  on  the 
floor,  and  lifting  it  into  his  breast,  and  dandling  it  like  a 
baby.  This  is  what  early  training  will  do.  I  just  put  it  to 
you:  Suppose  these  animals  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
denominational  system,  if  they  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
sectarian  system,  and  then  brought  together  in  one  place, 
what  a  row  there  would  have  been. 

“As  to  the  different  views  regarding  the  Bill  [for  education] 
entertained  by  different  bodies,  and  the  empty  cries  that  are 
raised  against  it,  all  of  which  I  hope  Parliament  will  dis¬ 
regard,  and  will  consider  only,  whether  this  Bill  is  or  is  not 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  good  of  society — to 
each  and  all  of  these  religious  bodies,  beginning  with  the 
Free  Church,  I  will  give  the  advice  tendered  to  an  honour¬ 
able  Baronet.  When  Sir  J ohn  Sinclair  was  chosen  member 
of  parliament  for  his  native  county,  a  man  came  up  to  him 
and  said,  ‘Noo,  maister  George,  I’ll  gi’e  ye  an  advice. 
They’ve  made  ye  a  parliament  man,  and  my  advice  to  you 
is,  Be  ye  aye  tak  takin’  what  ye  can  get,  and  aye  seek 
seekin’  till  ye  get  mair/ 

“At  the  time  of  the  Disruption  a  certain  party  would 
yield  nothing.  At  the  University  Bill  time  they  would 
yield  nothing;  and,  at  this  time  [of  the  Education  Bill]  they 
will  yield  nothing.  There  was  a  very  sagacious  man  in  this 
city,  perhaps  the  most  sagacious  of  all  the  citizens,  I  mean 
the  late  Sir  J ames  Gibson-Craig,  who,  on  one  occasion,  was 
dealing  with  a  gentleman  who  insisted  on  his  having  the 
last  rights  of  law.  Sir  James  advised  him  to  yield  a  little. 
The  man  said  he  would  not  yield  a  straw.  Sir  James  urged 
him,  but  he  was  obstinate.  ‘Well,  then,  let  me  tell  you/ 
said  Sir  James,  ‘that  the  man  who  will  have  the  last  right 
and  the  last  word  at  law,  is  very  like  the  man  who  will  have 


66 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


the  last  drop  in  the  tankard,  he  has  the  chance  of  getting 
the  lid  down  on  his  nose/  Now,  if  my  friends  in  the 
Established  Church  would  just  hear  me — for  I  know  there 
are  many  sensible  men  among  them — I  would  say  that,  at 
the  time  of  the  Disruption,  down  came  the  lid;  at  the  time 
of  the  University  Bill  they  would  have  the  last  drop,  and 
smash  came  the  lid;  and  now  that  they  would  have  the 
last  drop  again,  let  them  take  care  that  the  lid  does  not 
only  hit  them  on  the  nose,  but  that  it  does  not  hit  it  off 
altogether.” 


CHAPTER  X, 


FREE  ST.  JOHN’S — MODERATORSHIP. 

Dr  Guthrie,  as  we  liave  seen,  had  not  been  long  in  the 
collegiate  charge  of  Old  Greyfriars  before  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  more  good  might  be  accomplished  if  the  parish 
was  divided.  With  this  view  he  set  about  the  formation  of 
a  new  parish  and  the  erection  of  a  new  church,  which 
would  be  in  closer  proximity  to  the  Cowgate  and  the  West 
Port,  where  he  recognised  the  need  of  more  provision  for 
the  spiritual  wants  of  the  inhabitants.  He  ventilated  and 
advocated  the  propriety  of  this  scheme  until,  in  1840,  the 
new  parish  of  St  John’s  was  erected,  St  John’s  Church  built, 
and  he  was  appointed  minister — Mr  Sim  retaining  the 
Church  of  Old  Greyfriars.  In  carrying  out  the  arrangements 
for  his  new  church  and  parish,  he  made  it  a  condition,  to 
which  the  subscribers  and  the  Town  Council  agreed,  that 
one-third  of  the  seats  were  to  be  entirely  free,  while  another 
third  should  be  charged  for  at  a  merely  nominal  rate,  so  as 
to  encourage  the  poor  and  destitute  to  avail  themselves  of 
religious  ordinances.  He  rigorously  enforced  compliance 
with  these  conditions ;  and  even  when  he  was  in  the  zenith 
of  his  popularity  and  power,  drawing  to  his  church  crowds 
of  people  from  all  parts  of  the  city,  he  would  not  allow  a 
single  seat  to  be  occupied  by  strangers  until  his  own 
parishioners,  no  matter  what  their  appearance,  position,  or 
character,  had  been  accommodated.  So  far  as  practicable,  the 
same  regulations  were  carried  out  in  Free  St  John’s,  to 
which  he  removed  after  the  Disruption ;  and  it  caused  no 
little  offence  to  many  of  his  warmest  admirers  that  their 


68 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


social  status  was  entirely  disregarded,  and  they  had  to  give 
way  to  men  and  women  from  whom,  in  all  probability,  they 
would  have  shrunk  as  from  a  plague.  Protests  innumerable 
were  made  to  the  Doctor  with  a  view  of  having  this  rule  de¬ 
parted  from,  but  he  was  perfectly  inexorable  ;  and  strangers 
continued  to  be  accommodated  in  a  hall  underneath  the 
church  until  the  regular  members  and  adherents  of  the 
congregation  were  in  their  places. 

In  the  winter  of  1844-45  Dr  Guthrie  entered  upon  the 
new  church  of  Free  St  John’s,  which,  as  we  have  said,  was 
built  for  him  at  the  top  of  the  West  Bow,  within  a  stone’s 
throw  of  his  old  parish  church.  Most  of  his  congregation 
went  with  him  at  the  Disruption;  but  whilst  the  new 
church  was  being  built  they  saw  very  little  of  their  minister, 
who  was  absent  on  his  great  work  of  the  Manse  Scheme. 
On  his  return  from  that  tour  with  flying  colours,  he  received 
from  his  congregation  a  most  cordial  welcome ;  congratula* 
tions  poured  in  upon  him  on  every  hand;  and  he  was  perhaps 
the  most  popular  man  of  the  whole  church.  But  while  his 
popularity  had  gained,  his  health  had  suffered;  the  Her¬ 
culean  labours  he  undertook  sapped  his  usually  robust 
constitution,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  permanent  disease. 
His  heart  became  affected.  On  several  occasions  he  was 
laid  aside  from  active  duty,  and  he  was  recommended  to 
seek  change  of  air  and  scene.  This  induced  him  to  visit 
the  Continent;  and  he  travelled  on  this  and  subsequent 
occasions  through  France,  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  Germany. 
In  these  visits  he  acquired  a  large  amount  of  useful  infor¬ 
mation,  and  frequently  conducted  religious  services— both 
giving  and  receiving  benefit. 

In  1856  Dr  Hanna  was  appointed  his  colleague  in  Free 
St  John’s.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  without  either 
colleague  or  assistant,  although  the  precarious  state  of  his 


FREE  ST.  J  OHN’S  — MODERATORS  HIP. 


C9 


liealth  sometimes  kept  him  out  of  the  pulpit  for  weeks 
together.  The  appointment  of  Dr  Hanna  was  brought 
about  in  the  following  manner.  He  hacl  made  an  arrange¬ 
ment  with  the  Kev.  Mr  Addis,  of  Morningside  Church,  to 
exchange  pulpits  for  a  few  Sundays  while  he  was  editing 
the  works  of  Dr  Chalmers.  Mr  Addis  thus  removed  to 
Dr  Hanna’s  church  at  East  Kilbride,  and  the  latter  took 
up  his  quarters  at  Morningside.  About  this  time  Dr 
Guthrie  had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  either  retire 
altogether  from  pulpit  duties,  or  have  a  colleague.  The 
congregation  deprecated  the  adoption  of  the  former  course; 
and  having  heard  Dr  Hanna  preach  in  St  John’s  on  several 
occasions  when  their  own  minister  was  unable  to  be  present, 
they  resolved  to  invite  him  to  become  collegiate  minister  of 
St  John’s.  The  formal  call  was  given  by  the  Congrega¬ 
tion,  and  accepted  by  Dr  Hanna,  who  continued,  with  great 
satisfaction  to  all  concerned,  to  be  Dr  Guthrie’s  colleague 
for  a  period  of  eleven  years,  retiring  in  1867. 

From  the  time  that  he  obtained  the  assistance  of  Dr 
Hanna,  the  pulpit  appearances  of  Dr  Guthrie  became  much 
less  frequent,  and  he  officiated  in  his  own  pulpit  for  the  last 
time  in  1865,  although  subsequent  to  that  date  he  occasion¬ 
ally  assisted  at  communion  services,  both  in  his  own  church 
and  elsewhere. 

On  the  2 2d  day  of  May,  1862,  Dr  Guthrie  was  appointed 
Moderator  of  the  Twentieth  General  Assembly  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland.  But  for  his  infirm  health,  it  is  probable 
that  this  honour, — the  highest  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the 
church  to  bestow, — would  have  been  conferred  upon  him  years 
before.  His  election  was  proposed  by  the  retiring  Moderator, 
Dr  Candlisli,  who,  among  other  justly  laudatory  sentiments, 
gave  utterance  to  the  following: — “  His  genius  has  long  since 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  all  the  gifted  and  popular  preachers 


70 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


of  our  day,  and  with  his  other  rare  qualifications,  has  won  for 
him  an  influence  in  quarters  otherwise  all  but  inaccessible;  an 
influence  nobly  used;  never  for  any  selfish  end,  but  always  for 
Christ's  truth  and  cause  alone.  His  efforts  in  every  work  of 
benevolence,  and  specially  on  behalf  of  ragged  children,  have 
made  his  name,  like  that  of  Howard,  synonymous  with  philan¬ 
thropy.  F or  our  church  he  has  been  in  many  ways  a  benefactor 
as  well  as  an  ornament ;  and  hundreds  of  manses  all  over  the 
land  will  be  his  endearing  monument.”  The  nomination  was 
seconded  by  his  intimate  friend  and  warm  admirer  the  Earl  of 
Dalhousie,  who  concluded  his  speech  with  these  truthful  and 
noble  words : — “  It  was  his  lot  to  show  the  example  of  preach¬ 
ing  to  the  outcast  people  of  the  land,  in  the  wilds  and  amid 
the  snows  of  Canobie;  it  was  his  privilege  to  take  up  the 
question  of  providing  manses  for  our  houseless  ministers,  and 
we  know  how  nobly  he  wrought  that  scheme.  Having  estab¬ 
lished,  on  a  foundation  which,  I  trust,  will  not  be  easily  moved, 
the  ragged  schools,  Thomas  Guthrie  directed  his  ever  active 
mind  to  put  down  intemperance  and  drunkenness  throughout 
our  city.  Brethren,  there  is  not  a  sin  in  this  city  with  which 
he  has  not  endeavoured  to  do  battle, — not  a  sorrow  in  it  with 
which  he  has  not  sympathised, — and  those  of  you  who  are 
citizens  of  Edinburgh,  to  you  I  say  again,  This  is  the  man 
whom  you  are  this  day  invited  to  honour.  In  honouring 
Thomas  Guthrie,  the  Court  is  conferring  honour  on  itself ;  and 
I  cannot  help  feeling  a  selfish  pleasure  in  seeing  him  so  highly 
honoured,  seeing  we  come  from  the  same  country,  were  born 
in  the  same  town,  and  love  to  dwell  among  the  same  scenes.” 
Dr  Guthrie  was  introduced  to  the  Assembly  by  Dr  Buchanan 
of  Glasgow. 

Often  has  the  Free  Assembly  Hall  been  crowded  with 
anxious  and  expectant  faces ;  but  never  did  it  exhibit  a  more 
memorable  aspect  than  on  this  occasion.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  city  had  turned  out  to  welcome  the  man  whom  his 


MODERATORSHIP. 


71 


church  delighted  to  honour.  Hundreds  tried  in  vain  to 
obtain  admission.  The  audience  stood  on  the  tiptoe  of 
expectation,  for  it  was  pretty  generally  understood  that  the 
moderator-elect  was  prepared  to  make  one  of  his  most 
brilliant  oratorical  efforts.  Dr  Guthrie  did  not  disappoint 
liis  numerous  and  expectant  friends.  His  opening  address 
began  with  a  plea  for  indulgence,  on  the  ground  that  “  he 
was  not  conversant  with  the  forms  of  church  courts,  having, 
before  the  Disruption,  oftener  found  himself  at  a  gun  than 
by  the  wheel ;  and,  since  the  Disruption,  such  time  as  he 
could  spare  from  pulpit  and  pastoral  duties  had  been  given 
to  other  fields.”  He  then  referred,  in  his  own  peculiar 
manner,  to  the  services  rendered  by  former  Moderators;  the 
growing  and  gratifying  desire  for  union  among  Christians;  his 
attachment  to  the  principles  for  which,  as  Free  Churchmen, 
they  had  fought  and  suffered ;  the  Court  of  Session  and  the 
Cardross  case ;  the  Veto  and  Church  Settlement  Act;  and 
the  immediate  duty  and  ultimate  destiny  of  the  Free  Church 
not  to  pull  down  the  Established  Church,  but  “  to  bring  our 
church  into  a  state  of  the  highest  efficiency, — filling  our  pro¬ 
fessors'  chairs  with  the  best  professors,  our  pulpits  with  the 
best  ministers,  our  schemes  with  the  best  conveners,  our 
eldership  with  the  cream  of  the  people,  and  our  people  with  the 
very  finest  of  the  wheat,” — and  thereby  “  prove  that  a  church 
faithful  to  her  Head  in  heaven,  and  to  the  Bible  on  earth, 
and  faithful  to  the  people's  rights  and  to  the  interests  of  souls, 
without  aid  from  the  State,  can  stand  on  her  own  good  feet.” 
At  the  close  of  his  address,  Dr  Guthrie  paid  a  tender,  cordial, 
and  nobly  eloquent  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Hugh  Miller 
and  Dr  Cunningham.  Of  Miller  he  said,  “  Talk  to  the  people 
of  Scotland  of  a  name  that  lent  lustre  to  the  Free  Church, 
and  a  pen  that  did  her  the  greatest  service,  and  I  will  tell 
you  a  name  that  rises  in  the  minds  of  Scotland's  people,  and 


72 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


trembles  on  their  lips — the  name  of  Hugh  Miller.  .  Years 
have  passed  since  we  lost  him.  Years  often  abate  the  sense 
of  loss,  but  in  my  mind  they  have  here  only  increased  the 
sense  of  it.  How  often  have  events  happened  when  we  would 
have  wished  to  have  him  back  again — back  in  our  field  of 
battle — how  often  have  we  been  ready  to  cry,  like  our  fathers, 
when  hard  pressed  by  the  English,  c  Oh  !  for  one  hour  of 
Wallace  wight ! ’ — Oh  !  for  one  hour  of  Miller !  one  paper 
from  him  !  one  flash  of  his  steel  in  the  battle  field  !  .  .  . 

Who  had  a  pen  like  his,  who  so  ready  for  the  onset,  and 
who  showed  such  prowess  in  the  field  1  Ay,  whose  name  in 
lordly  hall,  or  Highland  glen,  or  crowded  city,  by  seashore 
or  among  our  mountains,  was  more  a  familiar  word  than 
Hugh  Miller’s  name.  He  fell  a  sacrifice ;  he  was  a  martyr 
in  his  own  way  to  his  mighty  efforts  in  the  cause  of  truth, 
of  patriotism,  of  the  Free  Church,  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty;  and,  I  will  also  add,  to  the  cause  of  science,  ministering 
as  a  priestess  at  the  altar  of  religion.”  Of  Dr  Cunningham  he 
said,  “He,  whom  Miller  loved  so  well, — whom,  next  to 
Chalmers,  he  most  revered, — who  was,  of  all  men,  as  a  man¬ 
at  arms,  facile  jprinceps, — who  might  of  all  men  have  received 
the  noble  title  of  defensor  fidei ,  defender  of  our  faith, — is,  since 
the  meeting  of  last  Assembly,  dead  and  gone.  We  shall  see 
his  face  no  more.  We  miss  him  here,  and  what  can  I  say  of 
him  more  than  this — we  would  have  missed  him  more  in  the 
day  of  conflict  i  I  leave  it  to  this  Assembly  to  record,  in  terms 
suitable  to  his  worth,  his  distinguished  abilities,  and  his  distin¬ 
guished  services,  their  sense  of  the  value  they  set  on  William 
Cunningham;  that  generations  hereafter  may  know  how  much 
we  valued  him  who  carved  his  name  on  the  very  pillars  of  our 
church;  how  much  we  owe  to  him  who  was  a  lion  in  the  battle¬ 
field  and  a  lamb  at  home;  how  much  we  owe  to  him  who,  while 
he  lived,  and  now  by  his  works  when  dead,  did  so  much  to  anchor 


MODEllATORSHIP. 


73 


this  church  over  the  ground  of  that  old  and  sound  theology 
which  Paul  revealed,  Calvin  illustrated,  Knox  imported,  and 
William  Cunningham  so  nobly  defended.  Fathers  and  Brethren, 
where  he  did  so  much  to  anchor  our  bark,  I  trust  she  will  ever 
ride.  In  these  days,  when  men  are  lifting  the  anchors  of  their 
faith  and  driving  on  the  shores  of  infidelity,  now  and  hereafter 
also,  may  our  church  never  depart  from  that  sure  anchor-ground; 
and  may  her  ministers  ever  be  men  whom  no  earthly  advan¬ 
tages  will  tempt  to  sign  what  they  do  not  believe,  and  no 
earthly  loss  will  deter  from  avowing  what  they  do  !” 

Dr  Guthrie’s  speech,  in  closing  the  Assembly,  was  worthy 
of  himself  and  of  the  occasion.  It  was  long,  elaborate,  racy, 
and  comprehensive.  We  give  one  or  two  brief  extracts, 
valuable  in  themselves,  and  as  fair  specimens  of  the  whole 
speech.  Repudiating  all  sympathy  with  the  errors  of  Bunsen, 
he  adds,  “  Far  less  do  I  sympathise  with  those  who,  having 
embraced  German  errors,  still  hold  Church  of  England 
livings;  and,  so  doing,  deal  with  the  most  sacred  vows  after 
a  fashion  that,  I  will  take  leave  to  say,  would  in  commerce 
be  counted  fraud — would  in  domestic  life  destroy  its  peace, 
and  end  in  actions  of  divorce — and  would,  in  the  affairs  of 
State,  brand  a  man  with  the  name  of  a  traitor;  and  would, 
in  other  days,  have  brought  his  head  to  the  block.  I  have 
no  sympathy  with  such  men.  If  ministers  of  the  church 
may  do  what  ministers  of  the  State  may  not, — what  men 
in  commerce  may  not — what  men  in  domestic  life  may  not — 
may  sign  one  thing  and  believe  and  act  upon  another — then, 
in  1843,  we  were  ‘  martyrs  by  mistake.’  We  might  have 
held  both  our  livings  and  our  principles  in  that  way.  We 
acted  otherwise,  and  what  a  fatal  blow  to  religion  had  we 
not  acted  otherwise!  There  is  something  more  eloquent 
than  speech,  I  mean  the  eloquence  of  action ;  and  I  am  bold 
to  say  that  Hall,  Foster,  or  Chalmers  never  preached  a 

F 


74 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D 


sermon  so  impressive  or  sublime  as  the  humblest  minister  of 
our  church  did  on  that  day  of  May,  when  he  gave  up  his 
living  to  retain  his  principles,  and  joined  the  crowd  that, 
bursting  from  the  doors  of  St  Andrew’s  Church,  with 
Chalmers  at  its  head,  marched  out,  file  by  file,  in  steady 
ranks,  giving  God’s  people,  who  anxiously  crowded  the  streets, 
occasion  to  weep  tears,  not  of  grief  but  of  joy,  as  they  cried, 
‘They  come,  they  come;  thank  God!  they  come.’” 

He  referred  with  approval  to  the  idea  of  Bunsen,  that  the 
Free  Church  had  been  raised  up,  and  placed  in  favourable 
circumstances  for  solving  the  problem,  whether  a  church, 
without  aid  or  countenance  from  the  State,  could  fulfil  the 
two  grand  objects  of  every  living  being — sustain  itself  and 
extend  itself;  and,  after  noticing  one  or  two  collateral 
matters,  added:  “If  we  can  secure  for  our  church  the  rising 
talent  and  genius,  as  well  as  the  piety  of  the  country — if  we 
can  fill  our  pulpits  with  our  ablest  as  well  as  our  most  pious 
youths,  I  do  not  despair  of  a  favourable  result.  We  are 
very  near  it  already.  The  Free  Church  is  only  nineteen 
years  old,  and  already  we  have  a  revenue  of  above  £300,000 
a-year,  as  much  as  the  whole  revenues  of  the  whole  Estab¬ 
lished  Church.  We  are  engaged  in  this  grand  experi¬ 
ment,  and  we  shall  work  it  out  successfully,  if  we  do  our 
duty  to  the  missionary  cause  abroad,  and  what  I  make  free 
to  call  the  ‘minister  cause’  at  home.”  To  a  remarkably 
eloquent  and  unique  pleading  for  the  “minister  cause”  the 
remainder  of  the  address  was  devoted.  We  give  a  few  of  the 
noble  utterances  :  “  Genteel  poverty  !  may  you  never  know 
it !  genteel  poverty,  to  which  some  doom  themselves,  but  to 
which  ministers  are  doomed,  is  the  greatest  evil  under  the 
sun.  Give  me  liberty  to  wear  a  frieze  coat,  and  I  will  thank 
no  man  for  a  black  one — give  me  liberty  to  rear  my  sons  to 
be  labourers,  and  my  daughters  to  be  domestic  servants. 


MODERATORSHIP. 


75 


and  the  manse  may  enjoy  the  same  cheerful  contentment 
that  sheds  its  sunlight  on  many  a  pious  and  lowly  home. 
But  to  place  a  man  in  circumstances  where  he  is  expected 
to  be  generous  and  hospitable,  to  have  a  hand  as  open  as 
his  heart  is  to  the  poor,  to  give  his  family  a  liberal  education, 
to  breed  them  up  according  to  what  they  call  genteel  life, — 
to  place  a  man  in  these  circumstances,  and  deny  him  the 
means  of  doing  so,  is,  but  for  the  hope  of  heaven,  to  embitter 
existence.  ,  .  .  There  are  certain  ways  of  evading  the 

claims  of  ministers  to  such  a  competence  as  they  are  entitled 
to.  Some  people  do  not  like  to  hear  of  these  matters.  Some, 
not  many,  I  hope,  are  like  an  honest  man  belonging  to  Aber¬ 
deenshire — begging  the  pardon  of  the  Aberdonians  here,  I 
tell  the  story  as  I  heard  it — who,  on  being  asked  what 
he  thought  of  the  Free  Church,  replied,  ‘Oh,  I  admire 
her  principles,  but  I  detest  her  schemes.  .  .  .  An 

honest  weaver  stood  up,  and  was  clear  for  keeping  the 
incumbent  at  the  lowest  figure.  He  saw  no  reason  why 
ministers  should  receive  more  for  weaving  sermons  than  he 
had  for  weaving  webs.  He  alleged,  in  proof  of  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  a  poor  stipend,  that  the  church  never  had  bettor 
nor  so  good  ministers  as  in  those  days  when  they  went 
about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins,  and  lived  in  caves  and 
holes  of  the  earth.  If  any  sympathise  with  the  weaver,  I 
answer  that  I  have  an  insuperable  objection  to  ‘caves  and 
holes’ — they  create  damp;  and,  secondly,  as  to  the  habili¬ 
ments,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  take  up  that  question 
when  our  people  are  prepared  to  walk  Princes  Street 
with  us,  not  in  this  antique  dress,  but  in  the  more  primitive 
and  antiquated  fashion  of  goatskins  with  the  horns  on.  So 
I  dispose  of  all  such  wretched  evasions. 

“  I  now  pass  on  to  a  second  evasion,  drawn  from  a  case 
which  actually  occurred  though  not  in  our  congregation, 


76 


LIFE  OF  KEY.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


nor  in  any  congregation  of  the  Free  Church.  A  lady, 
rustling  in  silks,  and  in  a  blaze  of  jewels,  went  to  visit  her 
minister’s  wife,  more  a  lady  than  herself,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  dress.  She  condoled  with  her  on  the  straitened 
circumstances  and  means  of  ministers;  and  looking  into  the 
pale  care-worn  face  of  the  excellent  woman,  said,  as  she 
turned  up  the  white  of  her  eyes,  ‘  But,  my  dear,  your  re¬ 
ward  is  above!’  From  the  bloodless  lips  of  some  poor 
sinner  in  a  cold,  unfurnished  garret,  where  the  man  of  God, 
facing  fevers  and  pestilence,  has  gone  to  smooth  the  dying 
pillow,  and  minister  consolation  in  that  last  dark  hour,  I 
have  been  thankful  to  hear  the  words,  ‘Your  reward  is 
above  ’ — but  from  silks  and  satins — disgusting  ! — cant,  the 
vilest  cant,  and  enough  to  make  religion  stink  in  the  nostrils 
of  the  world !  Does  that  saying  pay  the  minister’s  stipend  ? 
— will  it  pay  his  accounts  ]  Fancy  the  worthy  man  going 
to  his  baker  or  his  butcher,  and  instead  of  paying  down 
money,  turning  up  the  white  of  his  eyes  to  say,  'Your 
reward  is  above.’  I  fancy  they  would  reply,  6  Oh,  no,  my 
good  Sir,  that  will  not  pay  the  bill ;’  and  I  say  what  does 
not  pay  bills  does  not  pay  ministers’  stipends  as  they  ought 
to  be  paid.” 


CHAPTER  XI. 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 

Next  to  the  Manse  Scheme  and  Ragged  Schools,  there  is 
no  movement  in  which  Dr  Guthrie  took  such  a  conspicuous 
interest  as  that  of  temperance.  Forty  years  ago,  a  teetotaler 
was  comparatively  a  ram  avis .  He  was  regarded  as  a  well 
meaning  but  eccentric  man,  who  had  “  a  bee  in  his  bonnet.” 
Then  it  required  more  courage  than  it  does  now,  to  resist 
the  temptations  planted  thick  as  thorns  on  a  rose  bush,  in 
the  path  of  the  total  abstainer.  The  movement  was  treated, 
even  by  men  otherwise  respectable  and  exemplary,  with 
scorn  and  ridicule.  The  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  had 
become  so  common  with  the  people,  no  matter  what 
their  rank  or  condition,  as  to  enter  into  the  economy  of 
every  day  life — and  be  regarded  as  an  indispensable  adjunct 
to  christenings,  births,  marriages,  and  even  funerals.  The 
common  mind  had  come  to  regard  drink  as  a  panacea  fcr  all 
the  evils  that  flesh  is  heir  to ;  and  alike  in  the  palaces  of  the 
rich  and  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  it  was  as  much  in  request 
as  the  very  “  staff  of  life”  itself.  Under  these  circumstances, 
it  required  no  little  moral  courage  to  take,  as  Dr  Guthrie 
ultimately  did,  such  a  firm  and  determined  stand  against 
the  drinking  usages  of  society.  The  Doctor  gives  the  follow¬ 
ing  account  of  the  origin  of  his  teetotalism.  Along  with 
Mr  J.  0.  Brown  and  Mr  Bridges  he  had  been  travelling  in 
Ireland,  as  a  deputation  to  that  country,  shortly  after  the 
Disruption.  “In  this  journeying,”  he  says,  “we  reached 
a  town  called  Omagh,  from  whence  we  had  to  travel 
a  mountainous  country  to  another  place  called  Cocton. 


78  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

The  day  was  one  of  the  worst  possible,  with  bitter 
cold  and  lashing  rain.  Half-way  there  stood  a  small  inn, 
into  which  we  went,  as  a  sailor  in  stress  of  weather  runs 
into  the  first  haven.  Those  were  the  days,  not  of  tea  and 
toast,  but  when  it  was  thought  that  the  best  cure  for  a  wet 
coat  and  a  cold  body  was  a  tumbler  of  toddy;  and  we  no 
sooner  got  within  the  inn  than  the  toddy  was  ordered.  We 
took  our  toddy,  and,  no  doubt,  in  moderation.  But  if  we, 
with  all  our  haps  on,  were  in  an  uncomfortable  state,  far 
more  uncomfortable  was  our  half-ragged  carman  ;  if  we  were 
drenched,  he  was  drowned.  Of  course,  we  felt  for  our 
courteous  and  civil  driver,  and  we  thought  that  what  was 
sauce  for  the  goose  was  sauce  for  the  gander,  and  we  offered 
Tiim  a  glass;  but  the  carman  was  not  such  a  gander  as  we, 
like  geese,  took  him  for;  to  our  perfect  amazement,  not  one 
drop  of  the  toddy  would  he  touch.  He  said,  *1  am  an 
abstainer,  and  will  take  no  toddy/  Well,  that  stuck  in  my 
throat,  and  it  went  to  my  heart  and  (though  in  another 
sense  than  drink)  to  my  head.  That  and  other  circumstances 
made  me  a  teetotaler.” 

The  “  other  circumstances  ”  referred  to  are  undoubtedly 
his  experiences  of  the  effects  of  drink  in  his  pastoral  work 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cowgate,  and  other  slums  of 
Edinburgh.  Very  soon  after  he  came  to  the  metropolis,  he 
saw  enough  to  convince  him  that,  so  far  as  the  poor  were 
concerned,  drink  was  the  root  t)f  nearly  all  their  destitution, 
misery,  and  crime. 

When  the  “  Scottish  Association  for  the  Suppression  of 
Drunkenness”  was  formed  in  1851,  Dr  Guthrie  was  urgently 
requested  to  write  the  introductory  pamphlet  of  a  series  to 
be  issued  by  the  Association.  This  was  the  origin  of  his 
“  Plea  on  behalf  of  Drunkards  and  against  Drunkenness.”  In 
this  Plea  he  announced  himself  as  an  abstainer.  “  Speaking 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


79 


individually,”  he  says,  “we  think  ourselves  bound  to  say,  that 
we  go  much  farther  than  the  principles  of  this  Association 
would  carry  us — than  most  of  the  esteemed  and  honourable 
men  with  whom  we  are  here  associated.  On  principles  of 
patriotism  and  Christian  expediency,  we  think  that  the  evil 
has  arrived  at  such  a  pitch,  that  it  were  well  if,  instead  of 
either  attempting  to  muffle  or  even  to  muzzle  the  monster, 
the  country  would  agree  to  put  a  knife  through  its  heart,  in 
the  entire  disuse  of  all  intoxicating  liquors.”  The  "  Plea”  was 
argumentative  throughout,  gave  a  number  of  very  telling 
facts  and  figures,  and  produced  a  profound  impression.  A 
still  greater  effect,  however,  was  produced  by  the  delivery 
and  publication,  some  years  afterwards,  of  the  discourses  on 
“  The  City :  its  Sins  and  Sorrows.”  Lest  its  pictures  should 
be  regarded  as  exaggerations,  he  says : — 

“No  good  cause  has  ever  but  suffered  from  injudicious 
zeal  and  extravagant  statements.  Regard  for  truth,  and 
my  very  anxiety  to  see  this  evil  arrested,  unite  in  preventing 
me  from  indulging  in  exaggeration — were  it  possible  here  to 
exaggerate :  I  say  possible  to  exaggerate.  For  what  flight 
of  fancy,  what  bold  strokes  of  painting,  what  graphic  powers 
of  description,  could  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  evils 
and  sorrows  that  march  in  the  train  of  this  direful  and  most 
detestable  vice  ]  Standing  on  the  surf-beaten  shore,  when 
ocean,  lashed  by  the  tempest  into  foaming  rage,  was  up  in 
her  angry  might,  I  have  seen  a  spectacle  so  grand;  and 
where  she  couched  in  the  valley,  arrayed  in  a  gay  robe  of 
summer  flowers,  I  have  seen  nature  so  beautiful ;  and  where 
rattling  thunders  mingled  with  the  roar  of  the  avalanche, 
and  untrodden  peaks  of  eternal  snow  rose  clear  and  serene 
above  the  dark  mysterious  gorge,  within  which  the  battle  of 
elements  was  wraging,  I  have  looked  upon  scenes  so  sublime, 
as  to  pass  description.  Nor  colour  nor  words  can  convey  an 


80 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


adequate  idea  of  them.  To  be  understood  they  must  be 
visited,  to  be  felt  they  must  be  seen. 

“  Incredible  as  it  may  appear,  this  remark  is  no  less  true  of 
many  regions  of  sorrow,  and  starvation,  and  disease,  and 
vice,  and  devilry,  and  death,  that  the  smoke-stained  walls  of 
these  dingy  houses  hide  from  common  view.  These  were  for 
years  the  painful  field  of  my  labours.  Let  no  man  fancy 
that  we  select  the  worst  cases,  or  present  the  blackest  side 
of  the  picture.  Believe  me,  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate, 
impossible  even  truthfully  to  paint  the  effect  of  this  vice 
either  on  those  who  are  addicted  to  it,  or  on  those  who 
suffer  from  it — crushed  husbands,  broken-hearted  wives,  and 
most  of  all,  those  poor  innocent  children  that  are  dying 
under  cruelty  and  starvation,  that  shiver  in  their  rags  upon 
our  streets,  that  walk  unshod  the  winter  snows,  and  with 
their  matted  hair  and  hollow  cheeks,  and  sunken  eyes,  and 
sallow  countenances,  glare  out  on  us,  wild  and  savage-like, 
from  these  patched  and  dusty  windows.  Besides,  if  the 
extent  of  this  evil  has  been  exaggerated,  it  is  a  fault  that 
may  be  pardoned.  It  is  a  failing  that  ‘ leans  to  virtues 
side/  Perhaps  she  exaggerates  his  danger,  but  who  quarrels 
with  the  mother,  whose  love  for  her  sailor  boy  keeps  her 
tossing  on  a  sleepless  pillow — praying  through  the  long 
hours  of  a  stormy  night,  as  her  busy  imagination  fancies 
that  in  that  wild  shriek  of  the  fitful  wind  she  hears  his 
drowning  cry.  When  the  nursery  only  has  caught  fire,  and 
a  faithful  domestic,  plucking  the  babe  from  a  burning  cradle, 
rushes  into  your  chamber,  and  makes  you  leap  to  the  cry, 
The  house  is  all  on  fire  !  will  he,  that  hurries  away  to  save 
the  rest,  challenge  the  exaggeration1?  Exaggeration  is  as 
natural  to  earnestness  of  purpose  and  depth  of  feeling,  as  a 
blush  to  shame,  or  a  smile  to  happiness,  or  the  flash  of  the 
eye  to  anger/’ 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


81 


We  give  one  or  two  of  the  Doctor’s  word  pictures,  mode 
of  putting  the  argument,  and  heart-stirring  appeals : — 

“  With  a  pagan  from  any  part  of  China,  that  vast  empire, 
hut  one  which  our  opium  trade  and  greed  of  gain  has 
demoralised,  I  say  that  I  should  be  afraid  to  find  myself  in 
many  districts  of  this  city  of  schools,  and  colleges,  and 
churches,  and  hospitals,  and  benevolent  societies,  and 
people  of  high  Christian  worth  and  unquestionable  piety. 
Amid  the  idle  groups  of  bloated  women,  and  half-naked 
children,  and  wrecks  of  men,  filling  up  many  a  close-mouth 
and  foot  of  filthy  stair — with  our  path  crossed  by  some 
reeling  drunkard,  who  launches  himself  headlong  into  the 
common  sewer — with  so  many  shops,  under  Government 
licence,  turning  health  into  disease,  decency  into  tattered 
rags,  love  into  estrangement  or  bitter  hatred,  young  beauty 
into  loathsomeness,  woman’s  natural  modesty  into  loud  and 
coarse  effrontery,  mothers’  milk  into  poison,  mothers’  hearts  • 
into  stone,  and  the  image  of  God  into  something  baser  than 
a  brute — how  could  I  look  that  sober,  upright  pagan  in  the 
face,  and  ask  him  to  become  a  Christian  ]  I  must  be  dumb, 
lest  he  should  turn  round  on  me  to  ask : — Are  these  Chris¬ 
tians  ]  Be  these  the  fruits  of  Christianity  ]  I  would  repel 
the  charge.  But  what  if  he  should  follow  it  up  with  a  blow 
less  easy  to  parry  ]  Pointing  up  to  those  here  who  are 
rolling  in  wealth,  or  enjoying  the  abundant  comforts  of  their 
homes,  or  the  ordinances  of  their  worship,  he  might  next 
ask: — What  are  these  Christians  doing]  What  do  they  to 
save  their  fellow-creatures  from  miseries  that  move  a  pagan 
to  tears  ]  AVhat  to  save  them  from  crimes  unpractised  by 
those  whom  you  call  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet,  by 
us  to  whose  distant  land  you  send  your  missionaries  to  turn 
us  from  our  fathers’  idols  ]  What  could  I  say  ]  How  would 
I  look]  With  what  answer  could  I  meet  the  withering 
sarcasm: — ‘Physician,  heal  thyself]’ 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  P.T). 


“  Go  not  away,  1  pray  you,  under  the  delusion,  that  like 
a  fog-bank  which  lies  thick  and  heavy  on  the  valley,  when 
heights  are  clear,  and  hill  tops  are  beaming  in  the  morning 
sun,  intemperance  is  confined  only  to  the  lowest  stratum  of 
society.  I  know  the  contrary.  Much  improved  as  are  the 
habits  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes — and  we  thank  God 
for  that,  extending  as  that  improvement  has  done  to  those 
who  stand  beneath  them  in  the  social  pyramid— and  we 
bless  God  also  for  that,  and  hoping  that  this  improvement, 
like  water  percolating  a  bed  of  sand,  will  sink  down  till  it 
reaches  and  purifies  the  lowest  stratum — we  have  met  this 
vice  in  all  classes  of  society.  It  has  cost  many  a  servant  her 
place,  and — yet  greater  loss — ruined  her  virtue.  It  has 
broken  the  bread  of  many  a  tradesman.  It  has  wrecked  the 
fortunes  of  many  a  merchant.  It  has  spoiled  the  coronet  of 
its  lustre,  and  sunk  the  highest  rank  into  contempt.  It  has 
sent  respectability  to  hide  its  head  in  a  poor-liouse,  and  pre¬ 
sented  in  luxurious  drawing  rooms  scenes  which  have 
furnished  laughter  to  the  scullions  in  the  kitchen. 

^But  it  has  done  worse  things  than  break  the  staff  of 
bread,  lower  rank,  wreck  earthly  fortunes,  and  crown  wealth 
with  thorns.  Most  accursed  vice !  What  hopes  so  precious 
that  it  has  not  withered,  what  career  so  promising  that  it  lias 
not  arrested,  what  heart  so  tender  that  it  has  not  petrified, 
what  temper  so  fine  that  it  has  not  destroyed,  what  things 
sc  noble  and  sacred  that  it  has  not  blasted  1  It  has  changed 
into  ashes  the  laurel  crown  on  the  head  of  genius,  and,  the 
wings  of  the  poet  scorched  by  its  hell-fire  flame,  he  who  once 
played  in  the  light  of  sunbeams,  and  soared  aloft  into  the 
skies,  has  basely  crawled  in  the  dust.  Paralysing  the  mind 
even  more  than  the  body,  it  has  turned  the  noblest  intellect 
into  drivelling  idiocy.  Not  awed  by  dignity,  it  has  polluted 
the  ermine  of  the  judge.  Not  scared  away  by  the  sanctity 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


83 


of  the  temple,  it  has  defiled  the  pulpit.  In  all  these 
particulars,  I  speak  what  I  know.  I  have  seen  it  cover  with 
a  cloud,  or  expose  to  deposition  from  the  office  and  honours 
of  the  holy  ministry,  no  fewer  than  ten  clergymen,  with  some 
of  whom  I  have  sat  down  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  all 
of  whom  I  numbered  in  the  rank  of  acquaintances  or  friends. 

“The  frightful  extent  of  this  vice,  however,  is  perhaps 
most  brought  out  by  one  melancholy  fact.  There  are  few 
families  amongst  us  so  happy  as  not  to  have  had  some  one 
near  and  dear  to  them  either  in  imminent  peril — hanging 
over  the  precipice — or  the  slave  of  intemperance,  altogether 
‘sold  unto  sin/  Considering  the  depravity  of  human  nature, 
and  the  temptations  to  which  our  customs  and  circumstances 
expose  us,  that  fact,  however  melancholy  and  full  of  warning, 
does  not  astonish  us.  But,  to  see  a  father  or  mother,  to  see 
a  brother  or  sister  venturing  on  the  edge  of  a  whirlpool,  in 
whose  devouring,  damning  vortex  they  themselves  have  seen 
one  whom  they  loved  engulplied,  does  fill  us  with  astonish¬ 
ment.  I  knew  a  mother  once,  who  saw  her  only  son 
drowned  before  her  eyes.  Years  came  and  went  ere  she 
could  calmly  look  upon  the  glorious  ocean,  or  hear  without 
pain  the  voice  of  the  billows  amid  which  her  boy  was  lost. 
How  many  have  a  better,  or  rather  a  bitterer,  cause  for 
hating  the  sight  of  the  bowl !  Considering  liow  many  are 
lost — sink  into  perdition,  victims  to  this  vice — I  do  wonder 
that  so  few  Christian,  or  no  Christian,  but  loving  parents, 
candidly  consider  the  question,  whether  it  be  not  their  duty 
to  train  up  their  children  according  to  the  rule,  ‘  Taste  not, 
touch  not,  handle  not/  I  have  wondered  most  of  all  to  see 
a  pious  father  indulging  in  the  cup  that  had  been  poison — 
death  to  his  son.  Why  does  he  not  throw  it  away — cast  it 
from  him  with  trembling  horror]  Taking  up  the  knife,  red 
with  the  blood  of  his  child — making  sure  that  it  shall  be  the 


84 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


death  of  no  one  else — why  does  he  not  fling  it  after  the  lost 
— down,  down  into  the  depths  of  hell? 

“  Grant  that  there  were  a  sacrifice  in  abstaining,  what 
Christian  man  would  hesitate  to  make  it,  if  by  doing  so  he 
can  honour  God  and  bless  mankind  ?  If  by  a  life-long 
abstinence  from  all  those  pleasures  which  the  wine-cup 
yields,  I  can  save  one  child  from  a  life  of  misery — I  can  save 
one  mother  from  premature  grey  hairs,  and  griefs  that  bring 
her  to  the  grave — I  can  save  one  woman  from  ruin — bringing 
him  to  Jesus,  I  can  save  one  man  from  perdition — I  should 
hold  myself  well  repaid.  Living  thus,  living  not  for  myself, 
when  death  summons  me  to  my  account,  and  the  Judge  says, 
Man,  where  is  thy  brother  ?  I  shall  be  found  walking,  although 
at  a  humble  distance,  in  the  footprints  of  Him  who  took  his 
way  to  Calvary.  He  said,  ‘  If  any  man  will  come  after  me, 
let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow 
me/  This  cross,  which  has  been  borne  by  missionaries  to 
pagan  lands,  which  has  been  held  high  in  the  battle-field  by 
men  nobly  fighting  for  their  faith,  which  rose  above  the  red 
scaffold  flowing  with  martyrs’  blood,  may  be  carried  into  our 
scenes  of  social  enjoyment,  and,  a  brighter  ornament  than 
any  jewels  flashing  on  beauty’s  breast,  may  adorn  the  festive 
table.  If  this  abstinence  is  a  cross,  all  the  more  honour  to 
the  men  who  carry  it.  It  is  a  right  noble  thing  to  live  for 
God  and  the  good  of  man.” 

Thus,  in  his  “Plea,”  and  in  “The  City:  its  Sins  and 
Sorrows,”  he  laid  so  much  to  the  door  of  strong  drink, 
and  appealed  so  earnestly  on  behalf  of  its  victims,  that 
public  feeling  in  Edinburgh,  and  wherever  his  books  were 
read,  was  stirred  to  its  uttermost  depths.  Perhaps  no  works 
that  have  ever  been  written,  either  before  or  since,  have 
done  more  to  promote  the  temperance  reformation.  The 
terrible  earnestness  of  the  writer,  his  well  known  philan- 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


85 


thropic  character,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  evil,  and 
his  impassioned  and  pictorial  eloquence,  gave  his  opinions  and 
pleas  a  force  and  power  that  seldom  attaches  to  temperance 
literature,  even  of  the  most  radical  and  pronounced  type. 

Besides  that  phase  of  the  evil  most  familiar  to  him  in 
Edinburgh,  there  was  another  aspect  of  drunkenness  with 
which  he  had  often  come  into  contact  in  the  country,  and 
which  had  made  an  impression  on  him  from  his  earliest 
years.  It  was  that  form  of  the  evil  which  is  so  com¬ 
mon  at  hiring  fairs,  and  which  often  leads  simple  young 
men  and  women  into  temptation  and  crime.  He  had  seen 
in  his  early  days,  at  the  two  half-yearly  markets  in  his 
native  town  of  Brechin,  scenes  of  debauchery  and  riot  that 
were  simply,  or  at  least  chiefly,  the  result  of  the  absence 
of  any  counter-attraction ;  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  endeavour  to  provide  an  antidote.  Accordingly,  lie 
made  a  point  of  visiting  some  of  the  principal  fairs  in 
the  Lothians  and  the  adjoining  counties,  commencing  with 
Biggar.  Referring  to  this,  he  says: — 

“Four  weeks  ago  I  was  at  Biggar  Fair,  and  the  week 
after  next  I  am  going  to  Calder  Fair — not  to  buy  sweeties, 
far  less  to  drink  whisky  toddy;  but  recollecting  what  I 
witnessed  in  my  early  days  at  the  two  hiring  markets  in  my 
native  town  of  Brechin,  and  the  scenes  of  drunkenness, 
dissipation,  and  disorder  there  enacted,  I  will  go  there  for 
the  purpose  of  doing  wdiat  I  can  to  stop  them,  with  God’s 
help.  I  believe  I  succeeded  at  Biggar  Fair  in  keeping  some 
hundreds  of  people  sober,  and  sending  them  home  sober  as 
judges;  ay,  and  more  sober  than  many  judges  have  often 
been.” 

Besides  his  “Plea  for  Drunkards,”  &c.,  and  “The  City: 
its  Sins  and  Sorrows,”  Dr  Guthrie  wrote  two  of  the  Pic¬ 
torial  Tracts  issued  monthly  by  the  Scottish  Temperance 


86 


LIFE  OF  REV;  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D,D. 


League.  They  were  entitled  “  The  Contrast,”  and  “  A  Word 
in  Season.”  Both  tracts  were  written  for  the  month  of 
January,  in  different  years,  and  had  an  enormous  circula¬ 
tion.  The  last  of  the  two  had  reference  to  a  most  tragic 
and  touching  incident,  of  which  the  neighbourhood  of  Blair¬ 
gowrie  was  the  scene. 

Dr  Guthrie  frequently  appeared  upon  the  temperance 
platform ;  and  the  style  of  his  advocacy  will  be  seen  from 
the  following  extract, — taken  from  a  speech  delivered  by 
him  at  a  meeting  of  the  Free  Church  Temperance  Society, 
held  in  the  City  Hall,  Glasgow,  9th  February,  1859  : — 
“Well,  then,  if  these  drinks  are  not  good  for  the  body, 
are  they  good  for  work?  I  say  they  are  not.  What  do 
you  take  a  dram  for? — Oh,  because  it  is  cold.  And  in 
summer  why  do  you  take  it  ? — Because  it  is  so  hot.  It  is 
a  most  extraordinary  thing  this  whisky.  It  is  so  good  when 
they  are  cold,  and  it  is  good  when  they  are  hot ;  but  it  is 
neither  good  when  they  are  cold  nor  when  they  are  hot. 
Sir  John  Ross,  Admiral  Beecher,  Edward  Parry,  Dr  Richard¬ 
son,  Sir  John  Franklin — all  these  men  have  faced  the 
northern  climate.  These  were  men  that  had  never  for 
weeks  a  dry  stitch  upon  their  backs — it  often  happening 
that  they  were  sheathed  in  ice ;  and  the  universal  testimony 
(and  if  these  men  are  not  to  decide  it,  is  it  some  wretched 
toper  in  Glasgow  that  was  to  do  so  ?)  of  these  men,  who 
lived  in  sixty  degrees  below  zero,  and  faced  the  roaring 
storm  and  washing  sea,  was  one  unanimous  testimony  to 
this  effect,  that  spirits  are  the  worst  things  that  a  man  could 
take  when  exposed  to  a  severe  climate,  hard  weather,  and 
painful  circumstances.  (Cheers.)  Let  us  take  one  jump 
from  the  Pole  to  India.  Look  at  the  list  of  the  soldiers 
divided  into  as  many  total  abstainers,  moderate  drinkers, 
9,nd  drunkards.  Now,  the  proportion  in  which  they  die  is 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


87 


this— 46  drunkards,  26  moderate  drinkers,  and  just  15 
teetotalers.  That  is  the  question  in  regard  to  heat.  I 
have  settled  that  question  in  regard  to  cold,  I  have  settled 
that  question  in  regard  to  heat;  and,  I  say,  I  defy  any  man 
in  the  world,  in  health,  heavy  work  or  light,  in  cold  or  warm 
weather,  to  shew  that  the  taking  of  porter,  or  ale,  or  spirits, 
will  give  him  more  vigorous  health.  Now,  don’t  tell  me  it  is 
for  heat.  Then  do  you  take  it  for  your  temper  ]  Do  you  say 
so]  Many  a  poor  wife  knows  the  opposite — that  it  has 
turned  a  husband  into  a  hard-hearted,  cruel,  and  unfeeling 
father.  I  would  not  give  anything  for  the  company  of  a 
man  who  needed  spirits  to  put  him  in  good  spirits.  Will 
any  one  dare  to  say  that  I  am  a  gloomy  man,  or  ill-tempered  ] 
I  defy  them.  Will  any  one  say  that  I  am  an  unhappy  man  ] 
I  am  very  happy,  I  am  glad  to  say.  I  can  tell  you  that  I 
feel  my  spirits  lighter,  and  I  feel  my  purse  heavier.  I  feel 
my  head  clearer,  and  my  heart  better,  and  my  stomach 
better,  for  being  a  teetotaler.  (Cheers.)  I  was  in  ill  health 
through  over  exertion  in  the  cause  of  the  church,  and 
ordered  by  my  physician  to  take  wine.  I  took  it  for  three 
years ;  and  as  I  was  threatened  with  gout,  meeting  Professor 
Miller  one  day,  he  said,  ‘  If  you  continue  to  take  wine,  you 
may  lay  your  account  to  have  the  gout.’ — ‘Then,’  said  I, 
‘  henceforth  I  will  give  it  up.'  Since  that  day,  three 
years  have  elapsed,  and  I  have  had  better  health  ever  since, 
and  worked  more  than  before.  (Cheers.)  Now,  I  adopted 
this  cause  of  total  abstinence,  and  I’ll  tell  you  why;  I  don’t 
think  it  is  sinful  to  take  spirits,  but  I  hold  it  a  matter  of 
the  highest  Christian  expediency  to  be  a  teetotaler.  I  went 
to  the  poor-house,  and  found  five  out  of  six  of  the  paupers 
til  ere,  directly  or  indirectly,  through  drinking.  I  went  to 
the  prison,  and  found  five  out  of  six  of  the  culprits  there, 
directly  or  indirectly,  through  drinking.  I  went  to  the  ragged 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


school,  and  found  99  out  of  the  100  of  them  there,  directly 
or  indirectly,  out  of  drinking.  I  went  down  to  the  Gowgate, 
Grassmarket,  St  Mary’s  Wynd,  College  Wynd,  Brodie’s  Close, 
and  I  found  it  meeting  me  at  every  corner,  defeating  me  in 
every  effort;  it  defeated  our  schools,  churches,  and  mission¬ 
aries,  and  I  felt  that  if  these  wretched,  lapsed,  lost,  degraded 
classes  were  ever  to  be  raised  in  the  platform  of  humanity, 
drink  must  be  banished  from  the  land.  I  want  to  know  if 
you  ever  saw  a  city  missionary  not  a  teetotaler]  I  have  seen 
some  begin  as  moderate  drinkers,  but  they  never  continued 
long  until  they  became  teetotalers;  and  if  this  audience  were 
to  go  down  and  live  in  the  Saltmarket  for  a  few  days,  it 
would  do  more  good  than  my  speaking  to  doomsday.  If 
any  one  of  you  would  go  down  and  hear  that  cursing,  brutal 
husband,  who,  six  years  ago,  was  a  noble  workman  with  a 
lovely  wife,  to  whom  he  had  pledged  his  heart  and  affections, 
with  their  children  clothed,  and,  happy  to  see  their  father, 
running  to  meet  him;  but  now  they  run  from  him,  and  his 
wife  trembles  to  meet  him,  and  makes  her  prayer  to  God  to 
strike  her  dead  and  take  her  out  of  the  world.  If  you  were 
to  see  such  a  scene,  I  am  sure  you  would  all  give  your  heart 
and  hand  in  this  noble  work.  I  am  sorry  to  detain  this 
meeting  so  long,  but,  as  I  understand  there  is  a  large 
number  of  office-bearers  of  the  Free  Church  as  well  as 
members  present,  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words  more, 
especially  to  them.  My  friends,  I  assume  no  presumptuous 
position.  It  was  some  time  before  I  made  up  my  mind  to  join 
the  temperance  cause;  and  I  would  use  the  argument  with  you 
that  I  did  with  a  lady.  I  said  to  her — If  you  tell  me  of  the 
good  drink  does,  I  will  tell  you  of  the  ill  it  does.  I  need 
scarcely  say  that  she  could  not  tell  me  any  good  it  does. 
(Cheers.)  Well,  now,  I  wish  you  to  think  severally  what 
good  it  does.  Will  you  have  a  worse  head,  a  worse  purse, 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE.  89 

or  a  worse  body  for  being  teetotalers?  Do  you  think  it 
would  be  a  great  sacrifice  to  give  them  up  ]  There  never 
was  so  great  a  mistake  in  the  world.  The  first  day  I  wanted 
my  wine  I  thought  the  servant  had  not  cooked  the  dinner 
so  well;  the  second  day  there  was  something  funny  about 
it ;  the  third  day  I  never  thought  of  the  wine  at  all ;  and 
now  when  I  go  to  dinner,  and  see  ladies  and  gentlemen 
drinking,  it  looks  to  me  as  if  they  were  drinking  salts  or 
castor  oil.  (Loud  laughter.)  Depend  upon  it,  it  requires 
no  sacrifice  at  all.  If  you  mean  to  make  a  trial,  I  say,  God 
help  you.  If  you  do  make  it, — if  you  are  a  drunkard — oh ! 
you  need  to  pray  long  and  deep  to  God  to  help  you.  In 
regard  to  those  who  are  not  drunkards,  believe  me  there  is 
no  sacrifice  whatever.  I  speak  from  experience.  I  put  it 
to  the  Free  Church  elders,  to  my  brethren  in  the  ministry, 
— I  put  it  to  the  Free  Church  members — that  drink  does 
no  man  real  good  except  as  a  medicine.  Is  it  true  that  it 
does  thousands  eternal  evil  ]  Is  it  true  that  it  has  carried 
more  souls  into  hell  than  any  other  vicious  indulgence  ] 
Is  it  true  that  it  is  the  cause  of  all  the  wrecks  that  flutter  in 
your  streets — the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  nine-tenths  of  the 
females  that  walk  the  streets  and  disgrace  their  sex  ]  Is  it 
true  that  it  fills  the  prison  and  the  poor-house,  and  breaks 
human  hearts,  and  destroys  more  happiness  than  any  other 
indulgence  whatever  ]  If  you  cannot  put  your  hand  on  any 
good,  and  I  can  lay  my  hand  on  that  world  of  evil,  my 
dearly  beloved  Christian  friends,  what  are  we  to  live  for  ] 
Am  I  to  live  for  my  own  indulgence  when  that  is  the  cause 
of  the  ruin  of  thousands  and  millions  in  the  land  ]  I  say, 
No!  Did  Jesus  live  for  himself]  He  said,  ‘The  Son  of 
man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister/  Did 
Paul  live  for  himself]  He  said  ‘He  would  eat  no  flesh 
while  the  world  lasted,  lest  he  made  his  brother  to  offend/ 


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LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


I  pray  you  to  take  this  subject  home  to  your  knees  to-night. 
I  say,  souls  are  perishing  in  thousands  by  these  drinks,  and 
I  am  entitled  to  ask,  and  do  ask  it,  that  you  Christian  men 
and  women  pray  to  God  that  he  would  direct  you  and 
teach  you  what  is  your  duty.  If  you  can  go  down  before 
God  and  pray  that  he  may  keep  you  from  being  a  total 
abstainer — if  you  can  pray  God  to  keep  you  from  being  carried 
away  by  this  speech,  do  it,  do  it !  This  is  a  question 
that  requires  your  solemn  consideration,  and  as  you  shall 
answer  to  Him  wdio  wont  take  from  us  this  reply,  ‘  Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper]’  ” 

When  Dr  Guthrie  was  a  student,  there  was  not,  so  far  as 
he  knew,  an  abstaining  student  within  the  University,  nor 
was  there  an  abstaining  minister  in  the  whole  Church  of 
Scotland.  But  the  success  of  the  temperance  movement 
had  effected  a  wonderful  change  in  this  respect,  and  he  was 
not  more  zealous  in  its  promotion  than  sanguine  of  its 
ultimate  triumph.  “  In  the  course  of  another  generation,” 
he  said,  “the  man  who  shall  sit  down  to  his  bottle  of  wine 
or  his  tumbler  of  toddy,  will  be  as  rare  as  those  creatures, 
the  Megatheriums,  which  remain  to  us  the  strange  specimens 
of  another,  and,  let  us  be  thankful,  a  past  generation.”  He 
was  specially  anxious  to  secure  the  support  of  the  ministry 
to  the  temperance  movement.  “  He  would  rather  see  in  the 
pulpit  a  man  who  was  a  total  abstainer  from  this  root  of  all 
evil — drink,  than  a  man  crammed  with  all  the  Hebrew  roots 
in  the  world.”  In  speaking  of  the  benefits  of  temperance, 
he  was  accustomed  to  urge  four  reasons  for  being  an 
abstainer — “my  head  is  clearer,  my  health  is  better,  my 
heart  is  lighter,  and  my  purse  is  heavier.”  His  plan  for 
closing  the  mouths  of  objectors  to  temperance  principles,  was 
to  ask  them  if  there  was  no  young  man  among  their 
acquaintances  or  relations  who  had  been  ruined  by  indulgence 


EFFORTS  IN  THE  TEMPERANCE  CAUSE. 


91 


in  intoxicating  liquors  ?  He  seldom  got  a  negative  answer. 
His  opinion  was  that  Scotland  was  about  the  most  drunken 
country  in  Europe.  On  this  subject  he  says,  “During  a  tour  in 
France,  Belgium,  Sardinia,  Switzerland,  Prussia,  and  Germany, 
I  have  seen,  in  seven  weeks,  although  I  was  in  Paris  at  the 
time  of  the  baptismal  fetes ,  and  in  Brussels  during  the  three 
days’  celebration  of  Leopold  having  been  on  the  throne  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  less  drunkenness  than  might  be  seen 
in  Edinburgh  in  three  days.”  “  What  a  blessed  providence 
it  is,”  said  a  distinguished  foreigner,  “  that  you  Anglo-Saxons 
are  a  drunken  race;  for,  were  you  not,  there  is  a  power, 
talent,  and  energy  within  you,  would  make  you  masters  of 
the  whole  world!” 

One  more  reference  to  the  dark  record  of  his  experience, 
and  we  have  done  with  this  subject.  It  will  show  how 
strongly  and  acutely  he  felt  that  the  temperance  cause 
deserved  sympathy  and  support.  “Seven  years  of  my 
ministry,”  he  says,  “were  spent  in  one  of  the  lowest  localities 
of  Edinburgh ;  and  it  almost  broke  my  heart,  day  by  day  to 
see,  as  I  wandered  from  house  to  house,  and  from  room  to 
room,  misery,  wretchedness,  and  crime;  the  detestable  vice 
of  drunkenness,  the  cause  of  all,  meeting  me  at  every  turn, 
and  marring  all  my  efforts.  If  there  is  one  thing  I  feel  more 
intensely  than  another,  it  is  this;  that  drinking  is  our 
national  curse,  our  sin,  our  shame,  our  weakness.  I  speak 
the  words  of  truth  and  soberness  when  I  say  that  this  vice 
destroys  more  men  and  women,  bodies  and  souls,  breaks 
more  hearts,  and  ruins  more  families,  than  all  the  other  vices 
of  the  country  put  together!  Nor  need  I  speak  of  the 
multitude  of  lives  it  costs.  Nothing  ever  struck  me  more, 
in  visiting  those  wretched  localities,  than  to  find  that  more 
than  a  half  of  these  families  were  in  the  churchyard.  The 
murder  of  innocent  infants  in  this  city  by  drunkenness,  out- 


92 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.T). 


Herods  Herod  in  his  slaughter  of  the  innocents  of  Bethlehem. 
I  appeal  to  every  missionary  and  every  minister  who  visits 
these  localities,  whether  the  great  obstacle  that  meets  him  at 
every  corner,  is  not  drunkenness.  I  believe  we  will  in  vain 
plant  churches  and  schools,  though  they  be  as  thick  as  trees 
in  the  forest,  unless  this  evil  is  stopped.” 


CHAPTER  XII. 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS. 

Hitherto  we  liave  looked  only  at  the  more  prominent 
features  of  Dr  Guthrie's  public  career.  There  were  many 
movements  and  occurrences,  however,  of  minor  import  and 
significance,  to  which  he  lent  a  helping  hand.  Indeed, 
without  travelling  out  of  the  record,  we  might  go  much 
further,  and  say  that  there  were  no  movements  of  a  chari¬ 
table,  moral,  social,  or  religious  kind  with  which  he  has  not 
been  more  or  less  prominently  identified.  At  a  meeting 
held  in  the  Assembly  Rooms,  Edinburgh,  on  the  20th  Dec., 
1838,  for  the  purpose  of  commemorating  the  restoration  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  of  Presbyterian  Church 
Government,  as  secured  by  the  celebrated  General  Assembly 
at  Glasgow  in  1638,  he  made  a  speech,  in  which  the  follow¬ 
ing  passage  occurs  : — “  I  remember  when  Mr  Dunlop  and 
Mr  Cunningham  brought  out,  from  the  dust  and  rubbish  of 
forty  years,  the  anti-patronage  banner,  and  unfurled  and 
shook  it  in  the  face  of  the  Assembly,  thirty-three  good 
men  and  true  were  all  who  mustered  round  it,  and  I  had 
the  honour  to  be  one  of  the  number.  The  next  time  it  was 
displayed  there  were  forty-two  of  us,  and  they  called  us  in 
scorn  the  42d  Highlanders.  I  remember  being  at  Arbroath, 
calling  on  the  people  to  send  up  petitions  against  patronage, 
and  I  told  them  that,  although  they  called  us  the  4 2d 
Highlanders  last  year,  we  would  be  the  9 2d  this  year,  and 
I  was  nearly  a  correct  prophet.”"  It  was  this  same  small 
despised  nucleus  of  forty-two  who  brought  about  the 
Disruption,  and  established  the  Free  Church. 


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LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


The  national  commemoration  of  the  tri-centenary  of  the 
Reformation  from  Popery  in  Scotland,  was  held  in 
Edinburgh,  in  August,  1860.  The  proceedings  lasted  for 
four  whole  days,  and  were  of  a  most  interesting  character. 
These  consisted  of  devotional  exercises,  the  reading  of 
papers  on  Reformation  subjects,  and  the  exhibition  of  a 
collection  of  memorials  of  the  Reformation.  The  opening 
sermon  was  preached  on  Tuesday,  the  14th  August,  by 
Dr  Guthrie,  and  has  been  properly  described  as  one  of 
his  most  thrilling  and  magnificent  efforts.  It  produced 
such  a  profound  impression,  that,  regardless  of  the  sacred 
character  of  the  service  and  occasion,  the  audience  at  its 
close  gave  expression  to  their  admiration  and  approval  in 
a  burst  of  cheering. 

From  the  first,  he  took  a  warm  interest  in  the  question  of 
Union  among  the  Churches,  and  to  the  last,  he  ably  and 
earnestly  pleaded  for  its  consummation.  We  give  a  few  of 
his  manly  and  truly  Christian  utterances: — 

“I  cannot  consent  to  give  a  silent  vote  on  this  great  and 
momentous  occasion.  When  I  say  that  I  intend  to  vote  for 
Dr  Buchanan’s  motion,  I  have  said  nothing  that  has 
taken  the  House  by  surprise  at  any  rate.  I  have  made  no 
progress  any  more  than  my  friend  Dr  Gibson.  I  am  in  the 
very  position  to-day  that  I  stood  in,  in  the  year  1843,  when 
I  made  my  first  speech  as  a  Free  Church  minister  in  our 
General  Assembly.  Whether  I  have  logic  or  not,  I  have  a 
good  pair  of  eyes,  and  I  saw  a  long  way  a-head  of  me,  which 
was  more  than  Dr  Gibson,  with  all  his  logic,  did.  I  see  a 
long  way  a-head  of  me  this  happy  day;  and  I  expressed  the 
very  sentiments  in  the  Free  Church  General  Assembly  of 
1843,  that  I  stand  up  now  to  express.  I  find,  in  turning  to 
the  Witness  of  that  period,  that  I  said,  ‘  I  am  for  union  in 
the  meantime,  in  the  way  of  co  operation.  I  would  propose  to 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS. 


05 


Dr  Brown/  (speaking  of  home  mission  work),  ‘  you  take  that 
portion  of  the  work,  and  to  Dr  Alexander,  you  take  that,  and 
I  will  take  this;  let  us  devote  ourselves  to  this  labour,  and  go 
forth  to  the  heathen  lanes  of  Edinburgh  just  as  we  go  forth  to 
the  heathen  lands  of  Africa.'  ‘  But,  sir/  I  added,  ‘  We  cannot 
stop  there.'  And  in  reference  to  the  very  chapter  which  Sir 
Henry  MoncreifF  read  here  this  day,  I  went  on  to  say,  ‘  I 
defy  any  man  to  stop  there,  who  has  at  heart  what  our  clerk 
read  this  evening,  that  touching  and  affecting  prayer  of  Jesus 
for  His  disciples !  What  is  first  and  foremost  in  that  prayer] 
What  is  mentioned,  once,  twice,  thrice,  four,  and  five  times] 
What  is  repeated  over  and  over  again,  in  that  prayer  of  our 
Redeemer  ] — “That  they  may  be  all  one,  as  I  and  my  Father 
are  one."  And  I  never  will  rest  content,  I  will  never  cease 
to  pray  and  work,  till  that  end  is  achieved,  and,  as  I  do  so, 
I  will  bury  in  oblivion  the  memory  of  former  controversies.' 
Yes,  sir;  ‘oh  that  the  day  were  come,'  (and  it  is  not  far 
distant  now);  ‘oh  that  the  day  were  come,  that  I  might  meet 
with  my  brethren,'  (and  I  see  some  of  them  before  me  in  this 
House),  ‘  over  the  grave  of  all  former  controversies,  that  we 
might  shake  hands,  and  join  hearts,  and  be  one  in  Christ 
Jesus;  one  regiment  bearing  the  same  colours,  and  going 
forth  like  an  army  mighty  for  battle,  against  one  common 
and  tremendous  foe.' 

“There  are  still  some  crotchety  spirits  among  us.  I  don’t 
doubt  there  are  some  among  the  Dissenters,  too,  who  still 
keep  their  wounds  rankling  that  they  received  in  the 
Voluntary  controversy.  For  my  part,  my  wounds  have  been 
healed  for  many  a  day;  and  I  wish  to  remind  those  who 
have  got  their  old  sores  about  them,  that  if  they  are  not  yet 
healed,  it  is  a  proof  they  have  got  a  bad  constitution.  So  I 
say,  both  to  the  Free  Church  and  the  Dissenters,  that  if  they 
have  not  yet  got  their  wounds  healed,  they  will  need  to  look 


96 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


after  their  constitution.  There  is  something  wrong  about 
the  heart. 

“No  matter  what  the  subject  is,  there  are  some  men  who 
can’t  unite  or  co-operate  unless  you  drive  them  into  a  corner, 
and  bring  them  to  what  they  call  a  logical  conclusion.  I’ll 
tell  you  what,  and  you  know  it  as  well  as  I  do,  that  on  all 
points  we  will  never  be  agreed  till  we  are  in  a  better  church 
than  any  here  below.  Is  that  a  reason  why  we  should  not 
act  together,  because  there  may  be  differences  of  opinion 
among  us  ?  J ust  think  of  the  roses  on  a  bush  kicking  up  a 
row  because  they  are  not  all  painted  alike.  Just  think  of 
the  planets  resolving  that  they  won’t  go  round  the  sun  be¬ 
cause  they  have  not  the  same  weight,  or  the  same  orbit. 
When  is  this  going  to  end]  It  would  destroy  all  nature. 
And  if  people  refuse  to  act  together  for  God’s  glory  and  for 
a  good  cause,  for  the  reason  that  in  all  points  they  do  not 
think  alike,  it  will  not  be  so  much  the  dividing  of  the  church 
into  sections,  as  it  will  be  the  dividing  of  the  blessed  robe  of 
Christ  into  separate  threads ;  we  would  all  be  reduced  to 
the  condition  of  an  excellent  and  learned  man  in  Edinburgh, 
who  would  agree  in  worship  with  nobody  but  his  own  house¬ 
keeper,  and  who,  when  she  died,  was  left  to  worship  alone 
in  the  world.  Now,  if  asked  what  I  am  going  to  do  with 
men  who  won’t  agree  with  us,  I  just  say  that  I  will  try  to 
remove  their  difficulties ;  I  will  get  up  the  steam  of  love,  of 
zeal,  and  of  charitable  affection,  till  I  get  a  pressure  of  fifty 
pounds  to  every  square  inch  on  my  brother,  and  he  goes 
over  the  difficulty  like  a  railway  train.” 

Of  every  question  he  took  a  broad,  catholic,  and  large- 
hearted  view;  and  this  was  especially  characteristic  of  his 
dealings  with  other  religious  denominations.  Unity,  concord, 
and  reciprocity  were  the  aim  of  his  efforts;  and  freedom  in 
matters  of  conscience  and  ecclesiastical  polity — more  espe- 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS. 


97 


cially  the  freedom  of  a  congregation  to  elect  its  own  minister 
— was  the  height  of  his  great  argument.  No  more  fitting 
example  of  his  toleration  could  be  quoted  than  the  following 
extract  from  his  examination  before  the  Committee,  appointed 
to  consider  the  subject  of  refusing  sites  to  the  Free  Church, 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  “  Committee 
man — ‘  I  ask  you  what  is  your  opinion  on  that  point — your 
claiming  sites  for  the  Free  Church  upon  the  great  and 
general  principles  of  toleration  1  Are  you  of  opinion  that 
that  toleration  ought  to  exist,  and  to  extend,  if  pushed  to 
its  legitimate  consequences,  to  granting  sites  to  Koman 
Catholics V  Dr  Guthrie — ‘I  would  grant  a  site  to  a 
Mahometan — to  any  man  who  worshipped  God  according 
to  his  conscience/  Committee-man — ‘  Jew  or  Mahometan  V 
Dr  Guthrie — ‘Yes/  Committee-man — ‘Or  idolater'?’  Dr 
Guthrie — ‘Yes;  I  have  no  right  to  stand  between  man  and 
his  God,  whatever  that  God  may  be/  ” 

He  had  a  longing  for  millennial  peace,  and  did  what 
he  could  to  hasten  its  accomplishment  by  maintaining 
reciprocity  with  other  denominations.  He  preached  in 
many  churches  and  chapels  that  had  little  in  common  with 
the  Free  Church ;  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  accommodate 
himself  to  the  peculiar  idiosyncrasies  and  customs  of  the 
sect,  with  which  he  was  for  the  time  being  identified.  It  is 
related  of  him  that,  being  invited  to  preach  one  evening  in 
a  chapel  in  Edinburgh,  and  not  aware  of  the  dislike  of  the 
congregation  to  badges  of  priesthood,  he  despatched  his 
beadle  with  a  bag  containing  his  gown  and  bands  to  await 
him  in  the  vestry.  While  assuming  these  insignia  of 
office,  one  of  the  deacons  caught  sight  of  him,  and,  if  not 
horrified,  at  least,  felt  the  “  old  man  ”  rising  within  him. 
He  speedily  communicated  the  fact  to  his  brother  deacon, 
and  the  two,  with  edifying  zeal,  hastened  to  the  scene  of 


98 


LIFE  OF  KEY.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


action.  After  telegraphing  to  each  other  for  a  little,  one  of 
them  took  speech  in  hand — 

“  Ahem !  Mr  Guthrie,  we’re  no  unco  fond  o’  seein’  thae 
things  in  the  poopit — we’re  no  used  to  the  gown — we  wad 
like  better  to  see  you  without  it.” 

“  Very  well,  gentlemen  ;  it’s  all  the  same.  Hae,  Jamie, 
put  that  in  the  bag.” 

“  Ahem  !  and  the  bands  ?” 

“  Oh  !  ye  like  me  better  wanting  them  too,  do  yeV1 

The  deacons  nodded. 

“  Here  then,  Jamie,  put  them  beside  the  gown.” 

The  night  had  been  very  wet,  and  Mr  Guthrie  had 
walked  through  the  rain.  He  proceeded  to  put  on  a  pair 
of  dry  shoes  which  Jamie  handed  him.  Looking  at  them 
for  a  minute  with  a  droll  expression  on  his  countenance, 
he  held  them  up  to  the  Nonconformists,  adding, — 

“  Maybe,  gentlemen,  ye  wad  like  me  better  wantin’ 
these,  too  V9 

The  abashed  and  rebuked  elders  looked  foolishly  at  each 
other  for  a  moment,  muttered  something  about  the  “  plate 
no  bein’  attended  to,”  and  made  off  to  watch  its  contents. 

We  can  only  mention,  in  the  briefest  possible  manner,  Dr 
Guthrie’s  labours  for  the  suppression  of  the  social  evil — the 
compassion  with  which  he  looked  upon  fallen  women,  and 
the  strong,  kindly  hand  that  he  was  ever  ready  to  extend  for 
their  rescue  and  reclamation.  Nor  can  we  forget  that  such 
movements  as  that  of  early  closing,  and  the  better  payment 
of  the  toiling,  wage-earning  classes,  had  his  hearty  sympathy 
and  co-operation.  He  encouraged,  also,  the  efforts  made  by 
working  men  and  .women  to  improve  their  circumstances, 
and  was  especially  given  to  enjoin  habits  of  thrift  and 
economy.  Strikes  and  all  violent  efforts  at  social  ameliora¬ 
tion,  he  deprecated  as  “  productive  of  enormous  evils,” 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS. 


99 


although,  admitting  “that  the  working  man  may  have  justice 
on  his  side,  in  refusing  to  work  for  low  wages  and  demand¬ 
ing  higher.”  He  valued  the  Volunteer  movement  “because 
it  is  not,  nor  can  it  be,  one  of  offence  or  aggression,  but  is, 
and  must  be,  one  of  defence  alone;”  and  he  held  that  every 
man  who  had  health  and  strength  ought  to  be  a  volunteer. 
He  took  a  warm  interest  in  the  regular  army,  and  pleaded 
that  our  soldiers  should  be  provided  more  regularly  and 
systematically  with  the  means  of  grace;  and  he  contrasted 
our  army  in  this  respect  with  the.  army  in  the  days  of  Crom¬ 
well,  when  religious  parents  sent  their  sons  to  be  soldiers  that 
they  might  receive  a  religious  training.  Another  point  on 
which  he  felt  strongly  and  spoke  effectively  was  the  practice  of 
celibacy  in  the  army,  and*  the  recent  legislation  to  which  it 
has  led.  Certain  Acts,  much  discussed  at  present,  had  no 
more  uncompromising  enemy  than  Dr  Guthrie.  We  quote  a 
few  of  his  utterances  on  some  of  these  subjects: — 

“  What  right  has  Government  to  collect  a  thousand  men 
together  and  give  them  no  minister  of  religion  ]  If  Govern¬ 
ment,  in  the  matter  of  Established  Churches,  thought  it 
right  that  a  thousand  people  in  a  parish  should  have  a 
minister,  what  right  have  they  to  collect  a  thousand  men 
together,  bound  and  prepared  to  die  for  their  country’s  de¬ 
fence,  and  leave  them  without  a  minister  ?  I  know  no  men 
who  have  more  need;  and  it  is  both  a  cruel  and  an  anti- 
Christian  system,  to  deprive  these  men  of  the  regular 
provision  of  the  means  of  grace.  In  the  days  of  Marlborough, 
every  regiment  had  its  chaplain,  who  marched  and  cam¬ 
paigned  with  the  soldiers,  and  even  went  to  the  field  of 
battle  with  them.  In  Marlborough’s  time,  the  soldiers  never 
battled  with  the  enemy  but  they  rose  from  their  knees  to  do 
it;  and  the  regular  practice  was  for  the  men  to  join  in  prayer 
before  they  joined  in  fight;  and  many  of  the  officers  went  to 


100 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  L.D. 


the  Lords  table  and  communicated,  believing  it  might  be 
for  the  last  time;  and,  with  all  honour  to  the  British  army, 
we  have  never  had  better  soldiers  than  in  the  days  of  Marl¬ 
borough.  In  the  days  of  Cromwell,  Christian  parents  did 
what  no  Christian  parents  in  our  day  would  do.  They  sent 
their  sons  into  the  army,  that  they  might  get  a  religious  up¬ 
bringing.  Yes,  they  sent  their  sons  to  be  privates  in  the 
army,  that  they  might  be  brought  up  in  the  strictest,  godliest 
system.  And  what  was  the  result  ?  It  was  then  that  Crom¬ 
well’s  men,  from  the  very  power  which  they  felt  and 
exercised,  got  the  name  of  Ironsides,  and  they  never  went 
into  battle  but  they  went  to  victory — a  complete  proof  that 
the  more  religious  a  man  is,  he  is  the  better  soldier,  and  that 
the  more  a  man  fears  God,  he  is  the  less  likely  to  fear  man. 
There  is  another  thing  that  prevents  the  army  from  being 
the  true  representative  of  a  Christian  nation ;  and  that  is, 
that  domestic  comforts  and  influence  are  denied  to  the 
soldier.  Now,  that  is  a  grievous  wrong,  and  it  is  idle  to 
prove  it.  I  hold  that  if  celibacy  is  a  bad  thing  in  the 
church,  it  is  a  worse  thing  still  in  the  army.  They  may 
blame  the  soldier  if  they  would,  but  I  blame  the  system 
under  which  the  soldier  is  tempted.  Ah,  it  will  be  said, 
married  soldiers  would  be  a  great  expense.  But  what  right 
has  a  Christian  nation  to  secure  its  defence  at  the  risk  of  the 
ruin  of  a  man’s  happiness'?  Give  a  soldier  better  pay. 
That’s  it.  The  soldier  was  at  one  time  paid  twice  the  wages 
of  a  day  labourer;  and  I  say,  that  until  they  pay  the  soldier 
as  well  as  they  do  the  mason  or  the  carpenter,  they  will  not 
do  the  army  justice.” 

The  Doctor  was  fond  of  seeing  innocent  amusements.  “  He 
liked  to  see  a  kitten  chasing  its  own  tail,  if  it  had  nothing 
else  to  do.”  But  his  toleration  on  this  point  was  used  as  a 
testimony  against  him.  On  one  occasion,  at  Dundee,  he 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS.  101 


had  advocated  more  and  better  ways  and  means  of  providing 
amusement  for  the  working  classes,  and,  to  quote  his  own 
words,  “  a  short  time  afterwards  there  was  sent  me  a  play 
bill.  Yes,  a  play  bill  with  my  name  in  it !  The  Reverend 
Dr  Guthrie  in  a  play  bill  issued  in  Dundee  by  some 
provincial  players !  I  never  was  more  astonished  in  all  the 
days  of  my  life.  I  found  that  my  friends,  the  players,  had 
made  an  unfair  use  of  an  expression  made  by  me  on  that 
occasion,  and  had  stuck  my  name  into  the  bill  between,  if 
I  recollect,  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  and  A  Roland  for 
an  Oliver.  Surely  I  may  say,  necessity  makes  strange  bed¬ 
fellows,  and  play  bills  strange  companions.” 

In  keeping  with  his  kindly  disposition  and  commisera¬ 
tion  for  those  whose  lines  had  fallen  in  less  pleasant  places, 
he  never  tired  of  speaking  a  word  in  season,  if  it  was  likely 
to  have  anything  like  an  ameliorating  influence.  He  was 
particularly  anxious  that  the  harsh  practice  of  allowing 
“ no  followers”  to  servant  girls  should  be  dispensed  with. 
To  the  horror  of  not  a  few  old  ladies,  and  with  the  result  of 
lowering  himself  in  their  estimation,  he  asserted  that 
“lads  and  lasses  should  have  opportunities  for  courting,” 
and  declared  that  he  “  had  always  given  his  servants  facili¬ 
ties  for  seeing  decent  and  respectable  young  men.”  Speak¬ 
ing  of  the  “no  follower”  condition,  he  said — “The  world 
would  come  to  an  end  before  many  years  if  that  rule  was  to 
take  place ;  and  what  is  the  world  to  do  ?  I  say  that  is  not 
the  way  to  treat  a  servant.  Ho  good  servant  would  like  to  have 
boundless  liberty ;  but  I  say  that  every  servant  should  have 
liberty  to  have  her  holiday,  and  that  every  servant  should 
have  liberty  to  see  her  lad  at  a  decent  hour,  and  the  more 
(I  was  going  to  say),  the  more  she  had  the  better ;  but  that 
would  not  be  good.  I  say  that  every  attempt  to  fly  in  the 
face  of  nature  and  prudence  can  only  lead  to  mischief;  and 


102 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


to  prevent  a  decent  servant  girl  from  being  courted  is 
folly,  for,  firstly,  she  wilf  be  courted  whether  you  will  or 
no ;  and,  secondly,  to  refuse  a  servant  girl  proper  time  and 
opportunities  for  being  courted,  is  to  drive  her  into  dangerous 
times  for  being  courted.” 

As  might  be  anticipated,  Dr  Guthrie  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  movement  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  America  and 
throughout  the  world.  He  regarded  slavery  as  the  sum  of 
all  villanies,  and  the  origin  of  the  worst  evils  that  afflict 
humanity.  Hence,  he  was  ever  ready  to  lift  up  his  pen  and 
his  voice  against  the  accursed  system.  Among  other  meetings 
at  which  he  spoke  with  effect  on  this  subject,  there  is  one 
that  stands  out  with  special  prominence.  It  was  the  meeting 
held  in  the’' Queen  Street  Hall,  Edinburgh,  on  the  24th 
December,  1859,  to  express  sympathy  with  Dr  Cheever 
under  the  painful  circumstances  in  which  that  eminent 
divine  was  placed — some  of  the  wealthier  portion  of  his 
congregation  having,  it  will  be  remembered,  endeavoured  to 
get  him  to  resign  in  consequence  of  his  preaching  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  and,  failing  in  that,  sought,  by  withholding 
all  support  from  the  congregation,  to  shut  him  up  to  the 
necessity  of  abandoning  the  position  which  he  held  as  pastor 
of  the  Church  of  the  Puritans  in  New  York.  Referring  at 
this  meeting,  which  was  exceptionally  numerous  and 
influential,  to  his  having  declined  many  invitations  to  go  to 
America,  Dr  Guthrie  assigned  as  his  reason  for  not  going, 
that,  if  he  went,  he  could  not  keep  his  temper  on  seeing  the 
operation  and  effects  of  slavery.  “I  could  not,”  he  said, 
u  go  and  see  a  fellow-creature,  a  little  child,  or  a  woman,  set 
up  to  be  sold  by  auction,  perhaps  with  a  horse  or  a  wheel¬ 
barrow;  it  would  stir  my  blood,  and  I  could  not  hold  my 
tongue.  I  could  not  stand  the  sight  of  such  things  in  the 
South,  and  there  are  things  also  in  the  North  which  I  could 


MISCELLANEOUS  INCIDENTS  AND  MOVEMENTS.  103 


not  stand.  I  could  not  go  into  one  of  tlieir  pulpits  and  see 
a  large  sea  of  faces,  and  there  behold  some  poor  negro,  in 
whose  beaming  eye,  in  the  tears  rolling  down  whose  cheeks, 
I  see  a  loving  heart  towards  my  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  who,  perhaps,  is  a  believer  passing  any  in  that  house — 
I  could  not  see  that  man  standing  in  a  corner  and  professing 
Christians  refusing  to  sit  down  with  him  at  the  Lord’s  table 
• — the  man  who  perhaps  will  go  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
in  front  of  them  all — these  are  things  which  I  could  not 
stand.  Neither  could  I  stand  this  in  a  railway  carriage — 
some  poor  woman  whose  misfortune  it  is,  if  it  is  a  misfortune, 
to  be  black,  and  who,  because  she  is  black,  is  turned  out  of 
that  carriage,  and  dares  not  set  her  foot  among  her  white¬ 
footed  and  proud  oppressors.  These  are  thing^T  could  not 
stand;  and  therefore  I  have  never  gone  to  America.” 

When  the  war  which  led  to  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States  was  at  its  height,  many  meetings 
expressive  of  sympathy  with  the  North  were  held  all  over 
the  United  Kingdom.  Being  such  a  pronounced  abolitionist, 
Dr  Guthrie’s  feelings  were  entirely  in  favour  of  the  Northern 
States,  not  so  much  because  he  wished  to  see  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  preserved,  as  because  the  success  of  the  North 
ultimately  involved,  as  its  necessary  corollary,  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  On  this  account  he  believed  that  good  would 
come  out  of  evil.  “  There,”  said  he,  “  in  America  at  this 
moment,  you  have  a  house  divided  against  itself.  You  liavo 
brethren  in  mortal  combat  by  the  cradle  where  they  were 
rocked,  over  the  graves  of  their  common  parents.  The 
world  has  never  seen  such  a  horrid  strife;  and,  if  the  dead 
walk  this  earth,  I  could  fancy  the  spirits  of  the  Red  Indians 
saying,  that  the  hour  of  their  revenge  had  come  now,  when 
the  sons  of  those  that  had  exterminated  them  were  exter¬ 
minating  each  other.  Ay,  and  I  could  fancy  the  negro, 


104 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE.  D.D. 


though  he  does  not  express  it,  chuckling  in  his  heart  at  the 
sight  which  America  now  presents,  when  the  men  who 
hunted  him,  and  the  men  who  assisted  in  the  hunt,  are  in  a 
death-grapple,  and  having  each  other  by  the  throat,  and  are 
burying  their  swords  in  each  other’s  bosoms  ;  and  if  the 
negro  knows  our  proverb,  I  can  fancy  him  saying  to  himself, 
6  When  de  rogues  fall  out,  de  honest  men  will  get  dair  own.’ 

“  I  believe  God  will  overrule  the  American  struggle  for 
good,  and,  I  hope,  that  when  fathers  in  America  are  washing 
the  blood  from  the  bodies  of  their  sons,  they  will  come  to 
abhor  the  cause  of  all  the  turmoil  and  ruin  in  that  country ! 
I  say  of  it,  what  the  man  now  lying  in  Dundee  jail  under 
sentence  of  death,  said  of  drink.  He  was  a  poor,  honest, 
well-doing  man,  and  the  highest  testimony  was  borne  to  his 
character  at  the  trial.  When  his  wife  learned  the  habit  of 
drinking,  she  spent  his  hard-earned  wages  !  His  children 
were  ragged  and  neglected.  Driven  to  desperation,  the  man 
took  to  drinking  himself.  On  one  occasion,  he  gave  her 
twenty  shillings  to  pay  an  account,  but  soon  after  the 
creditor  came  in,  and  he  found  that  his  wife  had  only  paid 
thirteen  shillings,  and  had  drunk  the  rest !  Back  she  came 
with  the  children.  His  passions  were  roused.  He  knocks 
her  down.  He  tramples  on  her  body,  he  beats  her  with  his 
heavy  shoes,  till  he  beats  her  dead.  By-and-by  the  storm 
is  over.  Ah !  there  is  the  bleeding  corpse  of  his  wife.  They 
assure  him  she  is  dead.  He  hangs  his  head  in  misery,  and 
covering  his  face  with  his  hands,  exclaims,  £  Curse  that 
drink.’  And  when  America  stands  over  the  bleeding  bodies 
of  her  own  sons  fallen  in  this  fraternal  war,  I  trust  she  will 
cover  her  face  with  her  hands,  and  cry,  Curse  that  Slavery” 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  PULPIT —  PLATFORM — SOCIETY — PERSON. 

Although  not,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term,  a  refined 
and  intellectual  preacher,  Dr  Guthrie  drew  around  him 
many  of  the  litemti  and  rank  of  Edinburgh.  Hugh  Miller 
not  only  attended  his  church,  but  officiated  for  years  as  one 
of  his  elders.  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson,  the  professor  of  mid¬ 
wifery  in  Edinburgh  University,  and  one  of  the  most  genial, 
accomplished,  and  characteristic  Scotchmen  that  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  has  produced,  was  also  a  member  of  his 
congregation,  and  superadded  to  that  the  honour  and  value 
of  his  personal  friendship.  Lord  Dalhousie,  when  he  visited 
Edinburgh,  was  regularly  accustomed  to  “sit  under”  him; 
and  strangers,  illustrious  and  obscure,  came  from  far  and 
near  to  listen  to  his  unique  oratory.  As  a  preacher,  Dr 
Guthrie  might  be  regarded  as  variable  and  discursive. 
Still,  his  sermons  had  always  this  one  characteristic,  that 
in  them  he  never  lost  sight  of  Christ  and  the  gospel.  To 
this  extent,  he  adopted  the  Horatian  maxim,  and 
“Kept  one  consistent  plan  from  end  to  end;” 

although  his  modes  of  carrying  out  that  plan  were  not 
always  the  same.  His  exuberant  fancy  sometimes  carried 
him  away  into  regions  where  his  hearers  could  hardly  follow 
him.  His  figures  were  alternately  full  of  beauty  or  of 
terror,  of  gracefulness  or  of  sublimity. 

“  Sometimes  fair  truth  in  fiction  we  disguise, 

Sometimes  present  her  naked  to  men’s  eyes.” 

It  is  a  mistake  to  call  him,  as  some  have  done,  an  ad  captan- 

H 


106 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


dum  orator.  His  oratory  wanted  none  of  the  polish  that 
distinguished  Chalmers’  wild  whirlwind  bursts,  or  Hall’s 
grandly  ascending  periods,  but  it  had  qualities  entirely  its 
own.  All  at  once  he  emerged  from  a  practical  common¬ 
place  exordium,  and  ascended  to  the  highest  flights  of 
eloquence  with  a  rapidity  and  dazzling  grandeur  that  was 
perfectly  electric.  A  moment  more,  and  the  preacher’s 
voice  resumed  its  ordinary  tone.  The  variety  of  his  style 
concentrated  attention  on  his  discourse.  No  one  could  go 
to  sleep  under  him.  One  of  his  Boanerges-like  bursts  of 
passion  was  not  only  an  antidote  against  somnolency,  but 
was  sufficient  to  rouse  the  deepest  slumberer.  More,  per¬ 
haps,  than  any  other  preacher  of  his  time,  he  had  the  power 
or  knack  of  fixing  truths  on  the  memory.  He  sent  them 
home  as  if  they  had  been  discharged  from  a  battery,  and 
fixed  them  there  by  a  process  peculiar  to  himself. 

Not  a  little  of  his  popularity  as  a  preacher  has  been  put 
down  to  his  manner  of  delivery;  but  there  was  nothing  so 
exceptional  in  that  as  to  give  it  any  distinguishing  features, 
if  we  except  a  habit,  that  he  often  indulged,  of  making  a 
liberal  use  of  his  pocket  handkerchief,  not  in  the  way  nor  for 
the  purpose  appropriate  to  that  useful  article,  but,  as  many 
thought,  in  the  way  of  an  oratorical  trick.  He  was  accustomed 
to  throw  it  out  at  full  length,  and  then,  catching  it  as  one 
might  catch  a  cricket  ball,  he  would  repeat  the  operation 
with  a  little  touch  of  variety.  Guthrie  needed  not  such  a 
meretricious  aid  as  this  to  assist  the  effect  of  his  oratory. 
But  whether  it  was  an  involuntary  habit  or  a  deliberate  trick, 
it  was  done  with  such  perfect  naturalness  and  apparent  lack 
of  consciousness,  that  the  action  was  entirely  destitute  of 
vulgarity.  Many  of  our  greatest  preachers  have  involuntarily 
acquired  habits  in  the  pulpit  equally,  if  not  more  singular. 
We  need  only  refer  to  Dr  Candlish’s  invariable  practice  of 


THE  PULPIT — PLATFORM — SOCIETY— PERSON .  107 


violently  thrusting  his  fingers  through  his  hair,  as  if  he  would 
tear  a  handful  out  by  the  roots,  when  in  the  midst  of  his 
peroration,  as  a  parallel  instance  of  the  force  of  habit. 

If  Dr  Guthrie  was  great  in  the  pulpit,  he  was  not  less  so 
on  the  platform.  In  his  speeches,  it  has  been  said,  “  There 
is  always  a  flourish  of  far-resounding  laughter,  and  then  a 
mailed  truth  steps  down  upon  the  stage.”  No  matter  what 
the  cause  on  whose  behalf  his  sympathies  were  enlisted,  he 
felt  it  a  matter  of  duty  to  assist  it  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power.  Besides  this,  he  could  more  easily  indulge  in  the 
platform  his  keen  perception  of  humour,  and  his  quiet  satire 
on  the  prevailing  fashions  of  the  day.  But  he  could  also 
burn  with  indignation,  and  utter  words  that  scorched  and 
scathed  by  their  very  truthfulness.  He  was  fearless  as  a 
lion,  while  gentle  as  a  lamb.  He  never  hesitated  to  call  a 
spade  by  its  proper  name.  He  was  slow  to  wink  at  follies 
or  vices,  however  fashionable  or  frivolous,  and  yet  he  allowed 
the  utmost  liberty  of  thought,  speech,  and  action,  where  there 
was  no  sacrifice  of  morality  or  religious  principle. 

To  sum  up  the  qualities  which  were  developed  in  the 
course  of  his  long  and  distinguished  career,  it  may  be  said 
that  Dr  Guthrie  was  neither  a  reasoner  nor  a  scholar,  but 
was  simply  a  powerful  public  orator,  both  in  the  pulpit  and 
on  the  platform.  In  both  places  his  style  was  picturesque, 
as  was  his  personal  appearance.  He  had  an  immense  com¬ 
mand  of  natural  imagery,  a  large  fund  of  humour,  and  could 
produce  great  effects  by  an  apparently  simple  pathos.  He 
did  great  service  to  whatever  cause  he  espoused. 

In  society  he  showed  remarkable  conversational  powers. 
A  genuine  Scotchman  in  feeling  and  sentiment,  he  had  a 
great  fund  of  anecdote,  chiefly  of  a  national  character,  and 
few  could  tell  a  quaint  Scotch  story  with  better  effect.  His 
catholicity  of  spirit  led  him  to  associate  with  persons  of  all 


108 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


sects,  and  he  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  not  a  few  eminent 
men  of  the  day.  As  indicating  that  he  was  not  unknown 
in  the  highest  quarters,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  the 
occasion  of  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Louise  he  was 
honoured  with  an  invitation  to  the  wedding  ceremony,  and 
was  presented  to  the  Queen  by  her  Majesty's  express 
desire. 

But  it  was  round  the  social  board  and  in  the  domestic 
circle  that  the  humour,  geniality,  and  strong  manly  sense  of 
Guthrie  were  most  strikingly  displayed.  He  had  a  fault 
common  to  all  great  speakers,  although  in  him  it  became  a 
virtue,  that,  namely,  of  practically  absorbing,  while  he 
only  seemed  to  assist  and  suggest  conversation.  He  was 
accustomed  to  indulge  in  monologue — another  characteristic 
of  men  abundantly  gifted  with  a  ready  utterance.  But  no 
matter  what  the  circumstances  or  the  subject  might  be, 
Guthrie  was  always  edifying  and  interesting.  If  sometimes 
a  little  didactic,  he  never  became  “  stale,  flat,  or  unprofitable;” 
and  his  friends  paid  as  much  deference  to  his  opinions  as  did 
the  Literary  Club  to  the  ipse  dixit  of  old  Dr  Johnson.  Nor 
was  he  unmindful  of  the  claims  of  others.  He  had  the 
power  of  silence  as  well  as  of  speech.  We  have  referred  to 
his  intimacy  with  Hugh  Miller,  and  one  reminiscence  of 
this  intimacy  may  be  given  here. 

It  needs  not  be  premised  that  being  what  they  were,  and 
standing  to  each  other  as  they  did,  in  the  relation  of  minister 
and  elder,  the  friendship  of  the  two  men  was  of  the  closest 
and  warmest  kind.  Dr  M‘Cosh  has  described  how  he  was 
invited  to  Dr  Guthrie's  house  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
Miller  at  dinner.  The  two  “ Doctors”  had  been  walking 
together  on  this  particular  day,  and  at  some  distance  from 
the  house  of  rendezvous  they  saw  Miller  approaching  the 
door.  They  ran  to  overtake  him,  Dr  Guthrie  remarking, 


TIIE  PULPIT — PLATFORM— SOCIETY — PERSON.  1 09 


“If  lie  goes  to  my  house  and  finds  me  not  in,  he  will  set  off.” 
At  dinner  there  were  several  others  present,  and  Dr  M‘Cosh 
tells  how  “Dr  Guthrie  restrained  his  usual  flow  of  mingled 
manly  sense,  humour,  and  pathos,  to  allow  his  friend  Miller 
to  speak  freely.” 

In  personal  appearance,  Dr  Guthrie  was  tall  and  robust- 
looking,  though  rather  loosely  built.  His  style  of  dress  was 
careless,  and  in  his  attitudes,  whether  in  walking  or  in 
speaking,  there  was  perhaps  more  of  spontaneous  freedom 
than  of  grace. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


WRITINGS  AND  TRAVELS. 

So  much  space  has  been  devoted  to  the  labours  and  opinions 
of  Dr  Guthrie,  that  little  room  is  left  for  a  consideration  of 
his  writings.  This,  however,  is  less  to  be  regretted,  seeing 
that  there  are  very  few  in  the  religious  world  unacquainted 
with  his  works,  which  have  found  a  prominent  place  in 
English  literature.  As  an  author,  he  blossomed  somewhat 
late.  His  more  notable  works  were  written  after  he  had 
attained  his  fiftieth  year.  It  was  not  until  then  that  he  per¬ 
mitted  himself  to  enjoy  any  measure  of  the  otium  cum  dignitate, 
without  which  literary  labours  can  scarcely  be  carried  on 
with  either  pleasure  or  profit.  In  addition  to  his  “  Pleas  for 
Ragged  Schools/’  “Plea  for  Drunkards,”  and  “The  City:  its 
Sins  and  Sorrows,”  all  of  which  have  already  been  referred 
to  in  a  preceding  chapter,  Dr  Guthrie  has  written  “The 
Gospel  in  Ezekiel,”  (Edin.,  1856),  “Discourses  from 
Colossians,”  (Edin.,  1858),  “Speaking  to  the  Heart,”  (Edin., 
1862),  “The  Way  to  Life,”  (Edin.,  1862),  “Man  and  the 
Gospel, ’’(Edin.,  1865),  “On  the  Parables,”  (London,  1866),  and 
a  great  variety  of  miscellaneous  and  able  articles  for 
the  Sunday  Magazine  and  other  publications.  Without 
attempting  to  analyse  his  works  in  detail,  we  may  say 
generally  that  they  are  all  permeated  by  earnest  sympathy 
with  the  truths  of  the  gospel — that  they  exhibit  a  mastery 
of  doctrinal  distinction  and  evangelical  truth — that  they  are 
eminently  practical  and  devout — and  that  they  are  character¬ 
ized  by  a  liberality  and  toleration  which  might  be  thought 
by  the  narrow-minded  to  border  on  latitudinarianism. 


WHITINGS  AND  TRAVELS. 


Ill 


There  is  little  of  the  letter  that  killeth,  but  much  of  the 
spirit  that  giveth  life.  But  perhaps  the  most  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  his  writings,  is  their  wonderful  fertility, 
beauty,  and  felicity  of  illustration.  Similes  and  images 
occur  on  almost  every  page;  and  these  are  not  the  more  re¬ 
markable  for  their  exquisite  beauty,  than  for  their  appro¬ 
priateness,  and  being  the  fruit  of  his  own  observation  and 
experience  as  a  traveller,  as  a  philanthropist,  and  as  a  minister 
of  the  gospel.  In  illustrations  borrowed  from  the  sea  he  is  par¬ 
ticularly  felicitous.  But  sea,  air,  wind,  and  indeed  all  the  forces 
and  features  of  external  nature,  are  alike  amenable  to  his  keen 
and  glowing  imagination.  His  “  Gospel  in  Ezekiel  ”  has 
been  described  as  “the  most  remarkable  volume  of  ser¬ 
mons  that  has  appeared  since  Chalmers’  Astronomical  Dis¬ 
courses,  for  general  popularity  and  sustained  fluency  of 
composition.”  It  would  be  difficult  to  give  a  better 
idea  of  his  style  than  the  following  extract  from  this 
work  conveys : — 

4i  One  day  the  door  of  Egypt’s  palace  is  thrown  open,  and 
J oseph — a  model  of  beautiful  manhood,  mind  in  his  eagle 
eye,  strength  in  his  form,  majesty  in  his  manner,  and  on  his 
countenance  that  lofty  look  which  bespeaks  high  virtue  and 
integrity — enters,  accompanied  by  his  father.  The  old 
man’s  step  was  slow  and  feeble ;  the  old  man’s  eyes  were 
dim  with  age;  a  few  thin  silver  locks  mingled  with  the 
snowy  beard  that  flowed  down  his  breast,  as  he  came  for¬ 
ward  leaning  on  Joseph’s  arm,  and  bending  beneath  the 
weight  of  years.  Struck  by  the  contrast,  and  moved  to 
respect  by  the  patriarch’s  venerable  aspect,  Pharaoh  accosted 
him  with  the  question — ‘  How  old  art  thou  1  ’  Age  naturally 
awakens  our  respect.  ‘  Thou  shalt  rise  up  before  the  hoary 
head,  and  honour  the  face  of  the  old  man.’  That  beautiful 
and  divine  command  touches  a  chord  in  every  heart,  and 


112 


LIFE  OF  KEY.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


sounds  in  harmony  with  the  best  feelings  of  our  nature ;  and 
so  a  Greek  historian  tells  how  in  the  pure  and  most  virtuous 
days  of  the  republic,  if  an  old  man  entered  the  crowded 
assembly,  all  ranks  rose  to  give  room  and  place  to  him. 
Age  throws  such  a  character  of  dignity  even  over  inanimate 
objects,  that  the  spectator  regards  them  with  a  sort  of  awe 
and  veneration.  We  have  stood  before  the  hoary  and  ivy- 
mantled  ruin  of  a  bygone  age  with  deeper  feelings  of  respect 
than  ever  touched  us  in  the  marble  halls  and  amid  the 
gilded  grandeur  of  modern  palaces ;  nor  did  the  proudest 
tree  which  lifted  its  umbrageous  head  and  towering  form  to 
the  skies  ever  affect  us  with  such  strange  emotions  as  an  old, 
withered  wasted  trunk  that,  though  hollowed  by  time  into  a 
gnarled  shell,  still  showed  some  green  signs  of  life.  Nor,  as  we 
lingered  beneath  the  shade  of  that  ancient  yew,  could  we 
look  on  such  an  old  tenant  of  the  earth  without  feelings  of 
veneration,  when  we  thought  how  it  had  been  bathed  by 
the  sun  which  shone  upon  the  cross  of  Calvary,  and  had 
stood  white  with  hoar-frost  that  Christmas  night  on  which 
angels  sang  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  King.  It  is  a  curious 
thing  to  stand  alone  beside  a  swathed,  dark,  dusty  mummy, 
which  some  traveller  has  brought  from  its  tomb  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile,  and  to  mark  with  wonder  how  the  gold 
leaf  still  glitters  on  the  nails  of  the  tapering  fingers,  and 
the  raven  hair  still  clings  to  the  mouldering  skull,  and 
how,  with  the  arms  peacefully  folded  on  the  breast,  and 
the  limbs  stretched  out  to  their  full  extent,  humanity  still 
retains  much  of  its  original  form.  But  when  we  think 
how  many  centuries  have  marched  over  that  dead  one’s 
head — that  in  this  womanly  figure,  with  the  metal  mirror 
still  beside  her,  in  which  she  once  admired  her  departed 
charms,  we  see,  perhaps,  the  wife  of  Joseph,  perhaps  the 
royal  maid  who,  coming  to  give  her  beauty  to  the  pure 


WRITINGS  AND  TRAVELS. 


113 


embraces  of  the  Nile,  received  the  infant  Moses  in  her  kind 
protecting  arms— our  wonder  changes  into  a  sort  of  awe. 
Age,  indeed,  heightens  the  grandeur  of  the  grandest  objects. 
The  bald,  hoar  mountains  rise  in  dignity,  the  voice  of  ocean 
sounds  more  sublime  on  her  stormy  shores,  and  the  starry 
heavens  sparkle  with  brighter  splendour,  when  we  think 
how  old  they  are — how  long  it  is  since  that  ocean  began  to 
roll,  or  those  lamps  of  night  to  shine.  Yet  these — the  first 
star  that  ever  shone,  nay,  the  first  angel  that  ever  sang — are 
but  things  of  yesterday  beside  this  manger,  where,  couched 
in  straw  and  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  a  new-born  babe 
is  sleeping.  ‘  Before  Abraham  was/  or  these  were,  ‘  I  am/ 
says  Jesus.  His  mother's  maker,  and  his  mother's  child,  he 
formed  the  living  womb  that  gave  him  birth,  and,  ten  thou¬ 
sand  ages  before  that,  the  dead  rock  that  gave  him  burial. 
A  child,  yet  Almighty  God, — a  son,  yet  the  everlasting 
Father, — his  history  carries  us  back  into  eternity ;  and  the 
dignities  which  he  left,  those  glories  which  he  veiled,  how 
should  they  lead  us  to  adore  his  transcendant  love,  and  to 
kneel  the  lower  at  his  cross  to  cry — J esus  !  thy  love  to  me 
was  wonderful,  passing  the  love  of  women ;  my  soul  doth 
magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my 
Saviour.” 

Or  take  the  following  equally  suberb  blend  of  imagery  and 
every-day  experience  : — “  Ere  autumn  has  tinted  the  wood¬ 
lands,  or  the  corn-fields  are  falling  to  the  reaper’s  song,  or 
hoary  hill-tops,  like  grey  hairs  on  an  aged  head,  give  warn¬ 
ing  of  winter’s  approach,  I  have  seen  the  swallow’s  brood 
pruning  their  feathers,  and  putting  their  long  wings  to  the 
proof ;  and  though  they  might  return  to  their  nests  in  the 
window-eaves,  or  alight  again  on  the  house-tops,  they  darted 
away  in  the  direction  of  sunny  lands.  Thus  they  showed 
that  they  were  birds  bound  for  a  foreign  clime,  and  that  the 


114 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


period  of  their  migration  from  the  scene  of  their  birth  was 
nigh  at  hand.  Grace  also  has  its  prognostics.  They  are 
infallible  as  those  of  nature.  So,  when  the  soul,  filled  with 
longings  to  be  gone,  is  often  darting  away  to  glory,  and, 
soaring  upwards,  rises  on  the  wings  of  faith,  till  this  great 
world,  from  her  sublime  elevation,  looks  a  little  thing,  God’s 
people  know  that  they  have  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit. 
These  are  the  pledges  of  heaven — a  sure  sign  that  their 
‘  redemption  draweth  nigh.’  Such  devout  feelings  afford  the 
most  blessed  evidence  that,  with  Christ  by  the  helm,  and 
‘  the  wind/  that  ‘  blowetli  where  it  listeth/  in  our  swelling 
sails,  we  are  drawing  nigh  to  the  land  that  is  afar  off ;  even 
as  the  reeds,  and  leaves,  and  fruits  that  float  upon  the  briny 
waves,  as  the  birds  of  strange  and  gorgeous  plumage  that  fly 
round  his  ship  and  alight  upon  its  yards,  as  the  sweet- 
scented  odours  which  the  wind  wafts  out  to  sea,  assure  the 
weary  mariner  that  ere  long  he  shall  drop  his  anchor,  and 
end  his  voyage  in  the  desired  haven.” 

Such  passages  might  be  multiplied  to  any  extent,  as  they 
abound  in  every  sermon.  They  are  beautiful  in  themselves; 
and  still  more  so,  when  seen  in  the  framework  of  their 
context,  and  read  in  the  light  of  the  truth  they  are  intended 
to  illustrate.  We  give  the  following  as  fair  samples  of 
hundreds  more  : — “  With  the  Sabbath  hills  around  us,  far 
from  the  dust  and  din,  the  splendour  and  squalor  of  the 
city,  we  have  sat  on  a  rocky  bank,  to  wonder  at  the  varied 
and  rich  profusion  with  which  God  has  clothed  the  scene. 
Nature,  like  Joseph,  was  dressed  in  a  coat  of  many  colours 
— lichens,  grey,  black,  and  yellow,  clad  the  rock ;  the  glossy 
ivy,  like  a  child  of  ambition,  had  planted  its  foot  on  the 
crag,  and,  hanging  on  by  a  hundred  arms,  had  climbed  to  its 
stormy  summit ;  mosses,  of  hues  surpassing  all  the  colours 
of  the  loom,  spread  an  elastic  carpet  round  the  gushing 


WRITINGS  AND  TRAVELS. 


115 


fountain ;  the  wild  thyme  lent  a  bed  to  the  weary,  and  its 
perfume  to  the  air ;  heaths  opened  their  blushing  bosoms  to 
the  bee ;  the  primrose,  like  modesty  shrinking  from  obser¬ 
vation,  looked  out  from  its  leafy  shade ;  at  the  foot  of  the 
weathered  stone  the  fern  raised  its  plumes,  and  on  its  sum¬ 
mit  the  foxglove  rang  his  beautiful  bells ;  while  the  birch 
bent  to  kiss  the  stream,  as  it  ran  away  laughing  to  hide 
itself  in  the  lake  below,  or  stretched  out  her  arms  to  em¬ 
brace  the  mountain-ash  and  evergreen  pine.  By  a  very  slight 
exercise  of  fancy,  in  such  a  scene  one  could  see  Nature, 
engaged  in  her  adaraiions,  and  hear  her  singing,  ‘The  earth 
is  full  of  the  glory  of  God/  ‘  How  manifold  are  thy  works, 
Lord  God  Almighty  !  in  wisdom  thou  hast  made  them  all/  ” 
“When  in  a  sultry  summer  day  the  sky  gets  overcast, 
and  angry  clouds  gather  thick  upon  its  brow,  and  bush  and 
brake  are  silent,  and,  the  very  cattle,  like  human  beings, 
draw  close  together,  standing  dumb  in  their  untasted 
pastures,  and  while  there  is  no  ripple  on  the  lake,  nor  leaf 
stirring  on  the  tree,  all  nature  seems  struck  with  awe,  and 
stands  in  trembling  expectation,  then,  when  the  explosion 
comes,  and  a  blinding  stream  of  fire  leaps  from  the  cloud, 
and,  as  if  heaven’s  riven  vault  were  tumbling  down  upon 
our  head,  the  thunders  crash,  peal,  roar  along  the  sky,  he 
has  neither  poetry  nor  piety,  nor  sense,  who  does  not 
reverently  bow  his  head  and  assent  to  the  words  of  David, 
‘The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  full  of  majesty/” 

“The  voice  of  every  storm  that,  like  an  angry  child, 
weeps  and  cries  itself  asleep — the  voice  of  every  shower  that 
has  been  followed  by  sunshine — the  hoarse  voice  of  ocean 
breaking  in  impotent  rage  against  its  ancient  bounds — the 
voice  of  the  seasons  as  they  have  marched  to  the  music  of 
the  spheres  of  unbroken  succession  over  the  earth — the 
scream  of  the  satyr  in  Babylon’s  empty  halls — the  song  of 


116 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


the  fisherman,  who  spreads  his  net  on  the  rocks,  and  shoots 
it  through  the  waters  where  Tyre  once  sat  in  the  pride  of 
an  ocean  queen — the  fierce  shout  of  the  Bedouin  as  he 
careers  in  freedom  over  his  desert  sands — the  wail  and 
weeping  of  the  wandering  Jew  over  the  ruins  of  Zion — in 
all  these  I  hear  the  echo  of  this  voice  of  God,  1 1  the  Lord 
have  spoken,  and  I  will  do  it/  These  words  are  written 
on  every  Hebrew  forehead.  The  Jew  bartering  his  beads 
with  naked  savages — bearding  the  Turk  in  the  capital  of 
Mohammedan  power — braving  in  his  furs  the  rigour  of 
Russian  winters — overreaching  in  China  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Celestial  Empire — in  Golconda  buying  diamonds — in 
our  metropolis  of  the  commercial  world  standing  highest 
among  her  merchant  princes — the  Hebrew  everywhere, 
and  yet  everywhere  without  a  country;  with  a  religion, 
but  without  a  temple;  with  wealth,  but  without  honour; 
with  ancient  pedigree,  but  without  ancestral  possessions  ; 
with  no  land  to  fight  for,  nor  altars  to  defend,  nor  patri¬ 
monial  fields  to  cultivate ;  with  children,  and  yet  no  child 
sitting  under  the  trees  that  his  grandsire  planted ;  but  all 
floating  about  over  the  world  like  scattered  fragments  of  a 
wreck  upon  the  bosom  of  the  ocean — he  is  a  living  evidence, 
that  what  the  Lord  hath  spoken,  the  Lord  will  do. 

“  True  to  his  threatenings,  Almighty  God  will  be  true  to 
all  his  promises ;  and  to  both  we  can  apply  the  words  of 
Balaam — ‘  Rise  up,  Balak,  and  hear;  hearken  unto  me,  thou 
son  of  Zippor  :  God  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie,  nor  the 
son  of  man  that  he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said,  and  shall 
he  not  do  it,  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it  good?’” 

u  What,  for  instance,  were  the  most  tempting  banquet  to 
one  without  appetite,  sick,  loathing  the  very  sight  and  smell 
of  food  %  To  a  man  stone-deaf,  what  the  boldest  blast  of 
trumpet,  the  roll  of  drums,  stirring  the  soldier’s  soul  to  deed§ 


Writings  an travels. 


117 


of  daring  valour,  or  the  finest  music  that  ever  fell  on 
charmed  ear,  and  seemed  to  bear  the  spirit  on  its  waves  of 
sound  up  to  the  gates  of  heaven  1  Or  what,  to  one  stone- 
blind,  a  scene  to  which  beauty  has  lent  its  charms,  and  sub¬ 
limity  its  grandeur, — the  valley  clad  in  a  many-coloured  robe 
of  flowers,  the  gleaming  lake,  the  flashing  cascade,  the 
foaming  torrent,  the  dark  climbing  forest,  the  brave  trees 
that  cling  to  the  frowning  crags,  the  rocky  pinnacles,  and, 
high  over  all,  hoary  winter  looking  down  on  summer  from 
her  throne  on  the  Alps’  untrodden  snows?  Just  what 
heaven  would  be  to  man  with  his  ruined  nature,  his  low 
passions,  and  his  dark  guilty  conscience.  Incapable  of 
appreciating  its  holy  beauties,  of  enjoying  its  holy  happiness, 
he  would  find  nothing  there  to  delight  his  senses.  How  he 
would  wonder  in  what  its  pleasures  lay;  and,  supposing  him 
once  there,  were  there  a  place  of  safety  out  of  it,  how  he 
would  long  to  be  away,  and  keep  his  eye  on  the  gate  to 
watch  its  opening,  and  escape  as  from  a  doleful  prison  !” 

Few  men  occupying  the  same  position  and  rank  in  life, 
have  been  greater  travellers  in  their  day  than  Dr  Guthrie. 
Travelling  and  angling  were  his  two  great  resources  for 
health  and  recreation.  The  latter  predilection  he  wTas  able 
to  gratify  at  pleasure,  through  the  kindness  of  Lord 
Dalhousie  and  other  influential  friends.  As  for  his  travels, 
they  extended  to  nearly  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom 
and  the  Continent.  With  the  length  and  breadth  of  Scot¬ 
land  he  was  as  familiar  as  with  his  own  parlour.  The  “wilds 
of  Kincardineshire,  the  grim  solitude  of  Glentilt  and  Loch 
Lea,  the  shores  of  Angus,  the  wooded  gorges  of  the  Bum,  the 
fat,  fair  valley  of  the  Home  o’  the  Mearns,”  and  many  other 
Norland  regions  that  are  a  terra  incognita  to  the  majority 
of  travellers,  were  quite  within  his  ken.  As  for  the  Con¬ 
tinent,  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  he  made  it  a 


118  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

practice  to  go  there  nearly  every  winter.  He  was 
frequently  appointed  by  the  Free  Church  as  a  deputation 
to  foreign  churches.  He  attended  the  Waldensian  Synod 
at  Turin  in  this  capacity.  A  few  years  before  his 
death  he  was  appointed  to  visit  the  American  churches; 
but  after  having  taken  passage  on  board  an  Atlantic 
steamer,  he  became  unwell,  and  abandoned  the  voyage, 
to  the  regret  of  the  church  both  in  Scotland  and  in 
America.  Many  reminiscences  of  his  travels  have  appeared 
in  the  Sunday  Magazine ,  where  they  have  been  read  with 
great  interest.  In  1872,  he  printed  a  volume  for 
circulation  among  his  own  family  and  friends,  containing 
recollections  of  a  tour  through  Italy  two  years  before. 
Arrangements  had  been  made  for  his  visiting  Rome 
in  the  winter  of  1872-73,  with  a  view  of  relieving 
the  Rev.  Dr  Lewis,  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  “  Eternal  City,”  but  dangerous  illness  overtook 
him,  and  rendered  the  journey  impossible. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


ILLNESS— DEATH — FUNERAL — CONCLUSION. 

Nearly  ten  years  have  elapsed  since  Dr  Guthrie  was,  in 
consequence  of  failing  health,  laid  aside  from  the  more 
active  and  laborious  duties  of  his  clerical  office.  Since  then 
he  has  been  living  quietly,  and  enjoyed  a  fair  measure  of 
strength  until  last  summer,  when  he  had  an  attack  of  acute 
rheumatism,  which,  lasting  as  it  did  for  some  months, 
aggravated  a  morbid  affection  of  the  heart  that  had  subsisted 
for  many  years.  This  illness  was  to  a  certain  extent  got 
over,  but  in  November  last  he  was  again  brought  very  low 
by  an  attack  of  congestion  of  the  lungs,  from  which  he  never 
effectually  rallied.  A  remission  of  the  symptoms  admitted 
of  his  being  removed  to  St  Leonards-on-Sea,  in  Sussex, 
where  it  was  hoped  by  his  medical  adviser  that  he  might 
benefit  by  change  of  air.  No  improvement,  however,  took 
place.  On  the  contrary,  there  was  a  gradual  falling  off, 
until  the  symptoms  again  assumed  an  alarming  character. 
On  Tuesday,  the  18th  February,  the  change  in  his  appear¬ 
ance,  and  particularly  in  the  colour  of  his  face,  was  so  great, 
that  the  members  of  his  family  were  telegraphed  for — it 
being  considered  quite  uncertain  when  a  fatal  crisis  might 
arrive.  This  paroxysm  passed,  and  he  lingered  on,  suffering 
much  from  breathlessness,  but  perfectly  conscious,  and  cheered 
by  the  presence  of  those  near  and  dear  to  him.  Day  after 
day,  further  failure  of  strength  took  place,  but  consciousness 
remained,  and  he  looked  forward  in  peace  and  resignation 
to  what  now  seemed  the  not  far  distant  end.  On  Friday, 
a  telegram  was  received  from  Her  Majesty  the  Queen, 


120 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


desiring  information  as  to  Dr  Guthrie's  condition.  For 
two  days  more  no  material  change  occurred,  though  the 
continually-increasing  prostration  indicated  that  the  end  was 
drawing  near.  At  a  late  hour  on  Sunday  night  he  was  still 
conscious,  and  at  twenty-five  minutes  past  two,  on  the 
morning  of  Monday,  the  24th  February,  1873,  he  peacefully 
breathed  his  last.  Thus  died,  in  a  good  old  age,  in  his  71st 
year,  at  a  distance  from  his  native  place,  but  surrounded  by 
the  members  of  his  family,  and  enjoying  all  the  solace  of 
domestic  affection,  and  the  consolation  of  an  unwavering 
faith  in  the  Eedeemer,  one  of  whom  the  Free  Church  and 
Scotland  may  be  justly  proud,  and  whose  name  will  long  be 
a  household  word  in  many  lands. 

“  Sure  the  last  end 

Of  the  good  man  is  peace  ;  how  calm  his  exit ; 

Night  dews  fall  not  more  softly  to  the  ground, 

Nor  weary  worn  out  winds  expire  so  soft.” 

On  Friday,  the  28th  of  February,  the  mortal  remains  of 
Dr  Guthrie  were  interred  in  the  Grange  Cemetery,  Edin¬ 
burgh.  The  weather  was  exceedingly  fine.  The  sun  shone 
brightly,  and  even  warmly,  through  a  clear,  blue,  frosty  sky, 
flecked  with  fleecy  clouds.  It  was  just  such  a  day  as  one 
could  have  wished  for  the  funeral  of  a  man  of  genial  nature, 
and  whose  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  sunny  me¬ 
mories.  The  family  had  complied  with  the  general  desire 
that  the  funeral  should  be  public,  and  it  was  attended  by 
the  municipal,  ecclesiastical,  and  other  public  bodies ;  by 
many  private  citizens,  and  by  numerous  strangers  from  a 
distance.  The  route  of  the  funeral  procession — from  the 
house  in  Salisbury  Koad  to  the  cemetery — extended  for 
about  a  mile,  and  both  sides  of  the  streets  were  crowded 
with  decorous  and  mournful  onlookers ;  whilst  in  the  ceme¬ 
tery  itself  pasuiy  thousands  had  assembled  to  testify  their  re- 


FUNERAL. 


121 


spect  for  the  deceased.  The  funeral  procession  extended  for 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  and  was  arranged  in  the  fol¬ 
lowing  order : — 

Detachment  of  Policemen. 

Original  Ragged  School. 

Edinburgh  Industrial  Brigade 
(Directors  and  Boys). 

Kirk  Session  and  Deacons’  Court  of  St  John’s. 

U.P.  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh. 

Free  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh. 

Professors  and  Students  of  the  New  College. 

Magistrates  and  Town  Council. 

High  Constables. 

Mutes. 

Hearse,  with  Pall  Bearers. 

Relatives  and  Mourners. 

Congregation  of  St  John’s. 

General  Public. 

Private  Carriages. 

Probably  upwards  of  thirty  thousand  were  assembled — 
the  largest  funeral  gathering  seen  in  Edinburgh  since  the 
death  of  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  funeral  procession  at  the  grave,  a 
suitable  and  impressive  prayer  was  offered  up  by  the  Rev. 
Dr  Blaikie,  and  the  coffin,  of  zinc  and  polished  oak,  was 
lowered  into  the  tomb.  The  coffin  bore  the  following 
inscription ; — 

Thomas  Guthrie, 

D.D., 

Born,  July  12th,  1803, 

Died,  Feb.  24th,  1873. 

The  children  of  the  ragged  school  sang  “ There  is  a  happy 
land/’  and  two  of  their  number — a  girl  and  a  boy — amid  the 
tears  of  the  spectators,  placed  a  wreath  upon  the  new  made 
grave. 

I 


122 


LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


The  place  of  interment  is  the  family  burying-ground,  and 
is  next  the  south  wall  of  the  cemetery.  A  slab  of  stone  let 
into  the  wall  bears  the  simple  inscription,  “  Burying-ground 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Guthrie,  D.D.”  The  wall  around  the  stone 
is  thickly  covered  with  ivy,  and  at  each  side  of  the  extensive 
ground  there  grows  a  weeping  ash.  It  is  on  the  sunny  side 
of  the  pleasant  grounds  of  the  Grange,  and  we  may  suppose 
that,  with  his  keen  sense  of  the  beautiful  in  nature,  and 
the  becoming  in  Christian  burial,  he  selected  this  spot  where 
the  grassy  turf  should  cover  his  dust,  and  “many  an  evening 
sun  shine  sweetly  o’er  his  grave.” 

On  the  Sabbath  following  the  funeral,  reference  was  made 
in  many  churches,  and  in  all  denominations,  to  the  death  of 
Dr  Guthrie. 

Dr  Candlish  preached  in  Free  St  John’s  Church,  which 
was  densely  crowded,  from  the  text,  Hebrews  ix.  27,  28 — 
“  And  as  it  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die,  but  after 
this  the  judgment ;  so  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the 
sins  of  many;  and  unto  them  that  look  for  him  shall  he  appear 
the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation.”  In  concluding 
his  discourse  he  said  : — I  ask  you,  beloved  brethren,  to  listen 
to  these  sentences  which  I  am  about  to  read,  and  which  are 
not  mine,  but  another’s.  “  Thank  God  my  tongue  has  been 
unloosed  !  ”  “  All  reserve  is  gone — I  can  speak  out  now.” 

“  Oh  !  most  mighty  and  most  merciful,  pity  me,  once  a  great 
sinner,  and  now  a  great  sufferer.”  “Blessed  Jesus!  what 
would  I  now  do  but  for  thee  !”  “I  am  a  father,  and  I  know 
what  a  father’s  heart  is.  My  love  to  my  children  is  no 
more  to  God’s  infinite  love  as  a  Father  than  one  drop  of 
water  to  that  boundless  ocean  out  there.”  “  Death  is  mining 
away  here,  slowly,  but  surely,  in  the  dark.”  “  I  often 
thought,  and  even  hoped,  in  past  years,  that  God  would 
have  granted  me  a  translation  like  Chalmers  or  Andrew 


CONCLUSION. 


123 


Thomson.  But  it  would  appear  now  this  is  not  to  be  the 
way  of  it.”  “  Oh  !  the  power  yet  in  that  arm  ” — the  right 
arm  stretched  out  with  force  while  in  bed — “  I  doubt  it 
presents  the  prospect  of  a  long  fight;  and  if  so,  Lord 
help  me  to  turn  my  dying  hours  to  better  purpose 
than  ever  my  preaching  ones  have  been.”  “The  days 
have  come  in  which  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them.”  “  Vani- 
tas  vanitatum!  I  would  at  this  moment  gladly  give  all 
my  money  and  all  my  fame  for  that  poor  body's” — (a 
smiling  country  woman  tripping  by) — “  vigour  and  cheer¬ 
fulness.”  “  A  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion.”  “I 
have  often  seen  death-beds.  I  have  often  described  them; 
but  I  had  no  conception  till  now  what  hard  work  dying 
really  is  !”  “  Had  I  known  this  years  ago,  as  I  know  it  now, 

I  would  have  felt  far  more  for  others  in  similar  circumstances 
than  I  ever  did.”  “  Ah !  my  dear  children,  you  see  I  am 
now  just  as  helpless  in  your  arms  as  you  ever  were  in  mine.” 
Of  telegraphic  messages  about  him,  he  said — “  I  bless  God 
for  the  telegraph ;  because  these  will  serve  as  calls  to  God’s 
people  to  mind  me  in  their  prayers.”  Of  the  Queen's  inquiry 
— “  It  is  very  kind.”  Of  a  young  attendant — “  Affection  is 
very  sweet;  and  it  is  all  one  from  whatever  quarter  it  comes 
— whether  from  this  Highland  lassie  or  from  a  peeress — -just 
as  to  a  thirsty  man  cold  water  is  equally  grateful  from  a 
spring  on  the  hillside  as  from  a  richly-ornamented  fountain.” 
Parting  with  a  humble  servant — “God  bless  you,  my  friend.” 
“I  would  be  most  willing  that  any  man  who  ever  wrote  or 
spoke  against  me  should  come  in  at  that  door,  and  I  would 
shake  hands  with  him.”  These  are  fresh  and  racy  death-bed 
utterances;  true  to  the  nature  of  the  man  who,  to  the  last, 
retained  his  genial  originality;  the  man  who,  with  genuine 
courtesy  and  his  wonted  humour,  apologised  for  the  trouble 
he  was  giving,  referring  to  Charles  the  Second's  begging  his 


124  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

courtiers  to  excuse  him  for  being  such  an  unconscionable  time 
in  dying ;  the  man  who,  child-like  as  he  always  was,  chose 
“  bairns'  hymns,”  as  he  called  them,  for  his  solace  in  his 
weakness — “  Oh  !  that  will  be  joyful,”  “  There  is  a  happy 
land;”  relishing  them  as  he  relished  that  one  of  Cowper’s, 
“ There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood;”  and  preferring 
them  to  all  other  uninspired  songs  of  praise.  Here 
I  would  fain  stop,  and  leave  the  last  words  of  a  singu¬ 
larly  true  and  gifted  man  to  tell  with  their  own  proper 
weight,  free  from  the  intrusion  of  more  commonplace  re¬ 
marks.  I  cannot,  in  fact,  in  the  view  of  such  an  affecting 
chamber  of  sickness,  find  it  in  my  heart  to  deal  in  the  ordi¬ 
nary  topics  of  consolation  and  edification  for  which  death 
furnishes  occasion.  I  am  in  no  mood  for  moralising  or  ser¬ 
monising  over  my  beloved  brother's  grave.  Nor  can  I  at¬ 
tempt  to  compose  a  funeral  oration  or  eloge  upon  the  life  and 
character,  the  rare  endowments  and  accomplishments,  the 
manifold  good  works  and  services,  of  him  who  is  gone.  This 
is  not  the  place,  this  is  not  the  time,  for  eulogy.  I  am  not 
the  man  competent  to  such  a  theme.  His  praise  is  in  all 
the  churches,  and  through  all  society  in  many  lands.  I  am 
here  simply  to  express  my  own  feelings  and  yours  under  the 
pressure  of  a  heavy  grief.  How  I  admired  and  loved  Thomas 
Guthrie,  and  how  he  reciprocated  my  affection  during  all 
the  years,  some  five-and-thirty,  of  our  close  familiarity  and 
most  intimate  and  cordial  friendship;  how  genuine  and 
trustworthy  a  friend  I  ever  found  him ;  what  experience  I 
have  often  had  of  his  noble  generosity ;  how  very  pleasant 
he  has  been  to  me,  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  say.  Friend 
and  brother,  comrade  in  the  fight,  companion  in  tribulation, 
farewell !  But  not  for  ever.  May  my  soul,  when  my  hour 
comes,  be  with  thine  !  A  great  man  truly  in  Israel  has 
fallen.  Men  of  talents,  men  of  abilities,  men  of  learning,  are  not 


CONCLUSION. 


125 


uncommon.  Men  powerful  in  thought  and  speech  are  often 
raised  up;  but  genius,  real  poetic  genius,  like  Guthrie's,  comes 
but  once  in  many  generations.  W e  shall  not  look  upon  his  like 
soon,  if  ever.  Nor  was  it  genius  alone  that  distinguished  him. 
The  warm  heart  was  his  and  the  ready  hand ;  the  heart  to 
feel,  and  the  hand  to  work.  No  sentimental  dreamer  or 
mooning  idealist  was  he.  His  pity  was  ever  active.  Tears 
he  had,  but  also  far  more  than  tears,  for  all  who  needed 
sympathy  and  help.  His  graphic  pictures  of  the  scenes  of 
misery  he  witnessed  were  inspired  by  no  idle  dreamy  philan¬ 
thropy  after  the  fashion  of  Sterne  or  Eosseau,  but  by  a 
human  love  for  all  human  beings  intensely  real  and  vigor¬ 
ously  energetic.  His  self-denying  labours  among  the  families 
of  the  Cowgate,  where  he  shrunk  from  no  drudgery  for  him¬ 
self,  and  shunned  no  contact  with  poverty  and  vice  in  others ; 
his  noble  zeal  in  every  good  and  holy  cause;  his  rising,  al¬ 
most  alone  at  first,  to  the  full  height  of  one  of  his  best  enter¬ 
prises — the  rescuing  of  children  from  sin  and  sorrow,  from 
ignorance  and  crime :  these  and  many  other  like  memorials  of 
his  wide,  comprehensive,  practical  benevolence,  will  not  soon 
pass  from  the  grateful  memories  of  his  countrymen.  The  fruits 
of  his  evangelical  ministrations,  and  that  powerful  preaching  of 
the  Word  which  captivated  so  many  thousand  ears  and  hearts, 
the  day  will  declare.  The  blank  which  his  removal  makes 
in  our  own  church,  the  church  of  our  fathers, — the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland, — is  one  that  can  scarcely  soon,  if  ever, 
be  supplied.  It  will  be  felt  for  years  to  come.  In  fact, 
the  church  does  not  seem  to  me  what  it  was,  now  that 
Guthrie  is  away.  He  was  a  power,  unique  in  himself,  and 
rising  in  his  uniqueness  above  other  powers.  He  did  not, 
indeed,  venture  much  on  the  uncongenial  domain,  to  him, 
of  ecclesiastical  polemics,  or  the  wear  and  tear  of  ordinary 
church  administration;  leaving  that  to  others  whose  superi- 


126  LIFE  OF  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

ority  in  tlieir  department  he  was  always  the  first  to  acknow¬ 
ledge.  But  in  his  own  sphere,  and  in  his  own  way,  he  was 
to  us,  and  to  the  principles  on  which  we  acted,  a  tower  of 
strength.  His  eloquence  alone — so  expressive  of  himself — 
so  thoroughly  inspired  by  his  personal  idiosyncrasy — so  full 
always  of  genial  humour— so  apt  to  flash  into  darts  of  wit — 
and  yet  withal  so  profoundly  emotional  and  ready  for  pas¬ 
sionate  or  affectionate  appeals, — that  gift  or  endowment  alone 
made  Guthrie  an  invaluable  boon  to  our  church  in  the  times 
of  her  Ten  Years’  Conflict,  and  afterwards.  But  the  Guthrie 
monument,  so  far  as  our  Free  Church  is  concerned,  is  in  our 
thousand  manses;  a  monument  which  he  himself  reared,  and 
in  the  rearing  of  which  he  may  be  truly  said  to  have  sacri¬ 
ficed  his  health  and  strength.  But  endangered  health  and 
diminished  strength  did  not  quench  the  ardour  of  his  burning 
soul.  Laid  aside  from  enforced  professional  labour,  in  pulpit 
or  in  parish,  Guthrie  was  still  the  man  for  men,  holding 
himself  always  open  to  all  calls  and  appeals  in  the  line  of 
Christian  and  catholic  benevolence.  To  our  own  church  he 
was  to  the  last  loyal  and  loving.  No  one  more  so.  But  he 
grew,  as  I  would  desire  to  grow,  more  and  more  from  year 
to  year,  in  sympathy  with  all  who  love  Jesus  and  hold  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Him.  May  the  Lord,  in  His  own  good  time, 
answer  his  many  prayers  for  the  repairing  of  all  breaches  in 
Zion,  and  send  to  the  divided  and  distracted  Christian 
family  all  over  the  world  that  peace  and  living  unity  on 
which  his  large  heart  was  set. 

We  close  this  all  too  imperfect  record  of  a  noble  life  with 
the  following  sentences  from  a  personal  friend  of  Dr 
Guthrie: — The  leading  and  most  essential  and  character¬ 
istic  peculiarity  of  this  great  man  is — that  he  was  deeply, 
earnestly,  intensely  Christian.  All  other  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  and  life  were  merged  in  the  intensity  of  Christian 


CONCLUSION. 


127 


feeling.  In  his  studies,  his  pursuits,  his  family — in  his  social 
habits,  his  warm-hearted  friendships,  his  zealous  philanthropy 
—in  his  pastoral  labours  and  his  pulpit  ministrations — in 
his  work  and  in  his  life,  love  for  “the  Master”  was  the 
pervading,  animating,  sustaining  power  which  upheld  him. 
That  Master  has  now  called  his  servant  home.  He  had  no 
fear  of  death.  He  had  long  known  and  felt  that  his  life 
was  precarious,  and  that  his  death  might  be  sudden.  Yet 
the  tranquillity,  the  trustfulness,  even  the  joyfulness  of  his 
walk,  was  not  disturbed  by  the  conviction  that  he  held  life 
by  a  very  feeble  tenure.  In  a  spirit  of  serene  and  devout 
trust,  he  awaited  his  call.  As  he  himself  once  expressed  it, 
in  speaking  of  a  departed  friend,  “Death  was  to  him  like 
the  chariot  which  Joseph  sent  to  bear  his  brethren  home.” 
In  the  crisis  of  his  alarming  illness  in  Edinburgh,  some 
months  ago,  he  was,  by  himself  and  his  weeping  family, 
believed  to  be  at  the  point  of  death,  and  at  the  gates  of  the 
Eternal  Kingdom.  Turning  his  tender  eye  to  the  dear  ones 
around,  he  said,  “It  may  be  that,  before  the  morning  dawns, 
I  shall  see  my  mother,  and  my  Saviour.”  Few  things  could 
more  sweetly  and  touchingly  illustrate  the  rare  combination 
of  the  child-like  tenderness  of  human  love,  and  the  devout 
simplicity  of  Christian  faith.  He  was  spared  for  a  season. 
That  call  was  a  call  for  preparedness.  Another  call  has 
come,  and  been  obeyed. 

As  a  preacher,  Dr  Guthrie,  notwithstanding  some  excel¬ 
lent  published  discourses,  can  scarcely  be  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  not  heard  him.  None  who  have  heard  him 
could  readily  forget  him.  Few  heard  without  deep  impres¬ 
sion.  To  a  rugged  nobleness,  a  majestic  simplicity  of  figure, 
voice,  and  manner,  was  added  a  vivid  imagination,  solemnized 
by  the  sacredness  of  his  theme,  a  fine  poetic  feeling,  and  a 
wealth  of  varied  illustration  from  the  world  of  nature  and 


128 


LIFE  OF  REV.  TH 


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the  experiences  of  life.  He  combined  the  highest  rhetorical 
power  with  simple  and  earnest  evangelical  preaching. 
There  is  probably  no  instance  of  a  man  who,  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  sustained  in  so  signal  a  manner  the  high  repu¬ 
tation  and  great  popular  acceptance  of  his  pulpit  ministra¬ 
tions.  His  church  was  uniformly  crowded  to  the  doors; 
and  many  a  man  has  stood  in  the  passage  to  hear  him,  and, 
with  streaming  eyes  and  throbbing  heart,  has  bowed  before 
the  power  of  his  soul-stirring  eloquence. 

A  zealous  Free  Churchman,  he  loved  all  who  loved  the 
Master.  He  had  many  warm  friends  within  the  Established 
Church  and  other  churches;  and  he  was  earnest  and  un¬ 
wavering  in  his  desire  for  union  among  all  Presbyterians; 
and,  in  the  first  place,  and  at  all  events,  for  union  among  the 
Nonconforming  Presbyterian  Churches.  He  was  the  zealous 
advocate  of  National  Education — liberal  according  to  the 
enactments  of  the  State,  and  religious  according  to  the  con¬ 
victions  of  the  people;  and  he  was,  under  all  circumstances 
and  at  all  times,  the  friend  of  the  principles  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  which  he  used  to  speak  of  as  “the  good 
old  cause.” 

The  distinguished  abilities,  attractive  manners,  and  great 
popularity  of  Dr  Guthrie  brought  him  frequently  into  the 
society  of  persons  of  high  rank.  He  was  there,  as  elsewhere, 
greatly  liked  and  highly  respected;  but  he  was  not  spoiled. 
He  retained  to  the  last  the  simplicity  of  the  Scottish  pastor, 
and  the  manly  and  genial  nature  which  endeared  him  to 
high  and  low. 

There  are  great  preachers  and  good  men  left  among  us, 
but  we  shall  rarely  see  one  leave  us  for  the  better  land  who 
will  be  more  widely,  deeply,  and  affectionately  remembered 
than  Dr  Thomas  Guthrie, 

-  TKE  LIBHAnY  Z?  THE 

JUL  14  1931 

UNIVERSITY  Of  ILLINOIS 


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